Easter is a celebration of faith and believes that we have in our God. The backdrop to the festival is how Jesus Christ was rejuvenated from the dead and went up to heaven. It celebrates the rejuvenation that even to date teaches us not to lose faith in humanity and serve without expectations. The Easter Sunday marks off the beginning of the Holy week even if it is not a part of it and denotes the end of the forty days of Lent.
Easter is one of the oldest and one of the most important Christian celebrations. The other popular branches of the tradition, such as the Easter Bunny and such are however pagan inclusions.
Easter- the tradition:
The story of Easter celebrates the rejuvenation of Christ from death. According to the legends, the story goes somewhat like this that at the time, the council members concerned with Jesus’ growing popularity were searching for ways to do away with him. However, they were unable to formulate a plan, and just then one of Jesus’ disciples driven by the lust of materialistic pleasure, agreed to betray Jesus and tell the priests about the right time to strike. That evening Jesus told his disciples how his end was near and how the reason for his death would be a betrayal by one of his disciples.
After having his supper with his disciples that evening the son of God, went to pray, shortly after which he was arrested by Jewish guards. He was crucified after facing much mockery and making the council face many dilemmas as well as he did not even speak to defend himself and as time passed by, the important council members started to realise that they had misread the situation and he indeed was the son of the God.
Nevertheless, Jesus was crucified and buried in an abandoned tomb. Thereafter some of his women disciples visited the cave to put spices on the dead body to stop it from smelling and found the tomb empty. Thereafter the Christ on many occasions marked his presence by appearing in front of his disciples, telling them how he was yet to go to heaven and once he did so, he would send a Holy Spirit to look after them. Jesus kept his word and by the Holy Spirit’s power, the disciples came to speak and understand various other languages as well, thus spreading the beliefs of Christianity across nations.
How are the dates calculated?
The dates of the festival change each year. A long time back, around some 300 AD the Council of Nicaea had decided that Easter may fall on the first Sunday that falls after the first full moon that occurs after or on the day of the vernal equinox. The date of Easter thus usually falls between March and April.
This year the date for Easter is fixed as April 9th, 2023, Sunday.
It is, thus, how the festival of Easter came to be celebrated and how the tradition is kept alive and how even after all these years. It is a festival of rejoicing about how our Messiah was rejuvenated from death and taught us the art of forgiveness throughout and even after his life.