Easter, also called Resurrection Day, is a Christian holiday celebrating Jesus Christ returning from the dead. Easter is celebrated in March or April.
The week leading up to Easter is known as the Holy Week. It includes Maundy Thursday which commemorates Jesus’ Last Supper with his followers. Then comes Good Friday which commemorates Jesus’ death on the cross.
Easter Sunday celebrates Jesus’ resurrection, which the New Testament says happened on the third day. For Christians it is the holiest day of the year. Eastertime includes a period of 50 days, from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday.
The Eastern Orthodox Church uses the Greek name Pascha for Easter.
In Western countries, traditional Easter celebrations include eating chocolate and sharing eggs. These do not come from the Christian meaning of the story.
Text adapted from Simple English Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0.
Procession of the Passion of Our Lord by Raphael Cheong on Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 4.0.
