African Art

Easter

Easter, also called Pasch () or Pascha or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian celebration and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the Bible's New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD. It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus, preceded by Lent (or Great Lent), a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. Easter-observing Christians commonly refer to the last week of Lent, before Easter, as Holy Week. In Western Christian denominations that observe the liturgical calendar, Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday (marking the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem), includes Spy Wednesday (on which the betrayal of Jesus is mourned), and contains the days of the Easter Triduum including Maundy Thursday, commemorating the Maundy and Last Supper, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. In Eastern Christianity, the same events are commemorated with the names of days all starting with "Holy" or "Holy and Great", and Easter itself might be called Great and Holy Pascha. In both Western and Eastern Christianity, Eastertide—also known as the Easter or Paschal season—begins on Easter Sunday and continues for seven weeks, concluding on the 50th day, Pentecost Sunday. However, in Eastern Christianity, the leavetaking of the feast occurs on the 39th day, the eve of the Feast of the Ascension. Easter and its related holidays are moveable feasts, not falling on a fixed date; its date is computed based on a lunisolar calendar (solar year plus Moon phase) similar to the Hebrew calendar, generating a number of controversies. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established common Paschal observance by all Christians on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. Even if calculated on the basis of the Gregorian calendar, the date of that full moon sometimes differs from that of the astronomical first full moon after the March equinox. Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by its name (Hebrew: פֶּסַח, pesach; Imperial Aramaic: פָּסחָא, romanized: pascha; whence the term Pascha), by its origin (according to the synoptic Gospels, both the crucifixion and the resurrection took place during the week of Passover) and by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar.

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• ▸1588
• ▸Grant Castner
• ▸1611

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Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.