The Christian festival of Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The spring festival has its roots in the Jewish Passover, which commemorates Israel's deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, and in the Christian reinterpretation of its meaning after the crucifixion of Jesus during the Passover of AD c.30 and the proclamation of his resurrection three days later.

Early Christians observed Easter on the same day as Passover (14-15 Nisan, a date governed by a lunar calendar). In the 2d century, the Christian celebration was transferred to the Sunday following the 14-15 Nisan, if that day fell on a weekday. Originally, the Christian Easter was a unitive celebration, but in the 4th century Good Friday became a separate commemoration of the death of Christ, and Easter was thereafter devoted exclusively to the resurrection. According to the Venerable Bede, the name Easter is derived from the pagan spring festival of the Anglo- Saxon goddess Eostre, and many folk customs associated with Easter (for example, Easter eggs) are of pagan origin.

Easter Day is currently determined as the first Sunday after the full moon on or after March 21. The Eastern Orthodox churches, however, follow the Julian rather than the Gregorian calendar, so their celebration usually falls several weeks later than the Western Easter. Easter is preceded by the period of preparation called Lent.

Reginald H. Fuller Bibliography: Torvend, Samuel, ed., Passage to the Paschal Feast (1993); Williams, Rowan, Resurrection: Interpreting the Easter Gospel (1994).

Lent
For Christians, Lent is a 40-day penitential period of prayer and fasting that precedes Easter. In the Western church, observance of Lent begins 6 1/2 weeks prior to Easter on Ash Wednesday; (Sundays are excluded). In the Eastern church the period extends over 7 weeks because both Saturdays and Sundays are excluded. Formerly a severe fast was prescribed: only one full meal a day was allowed, and meat, fish, eggs, and milk products were forbidden. Today, however, prayer and works of charity are emphasized. Lent has been observed since the 4th century.

Ash Wednesday
In the Western church, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and the seventh Wednesday before Easter. Its name comes from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of worshipers to symbolize death and sorrow for sin. In the Orthodox church, Lent begins on a Monday rather than on Ash Wednesday.

Good Friday
Good Friday is the Christian commemoration of the death of Jesus Christ, observed on the Friday before Easter. Originally, it was a day of fasting in preparation for the unitive celebration of the death- resurrection-exaltation of Jesus; no liturgy was held on that day. In the 4th century, at Jerusalem, a procession was staged from Gethsemane to the sanctuary of the cross, followed by readings about the passion. This was the beginning of the Good Friday observance as it is now known. In the Catholic tradition, the liturgy of the day consists of reading the passion, the ceremony of the veneration of the cross, and communion from the sacrament consecrated the day before. The service of preaching on the seven last words, of Jesuit origin, has become popular in Protestantism.