Easter Sunday marks the end of Holy Week. A day in which the return to life of Jesus Christ is commemorated, so that we explain now what is celebrated on Easter Sunday and what it means.
What is celebrated on Easter Sunday and what does it mean?
The Resurrection Sunday also called Easter Sunday It is the Sunday that is celebrated after Holy Thursday and Good Friday, which commemorate the last supper and subsequent crucifixion of Christ. It is a mobile day (as in fact it is the whole of Lent and Holy Week) and This year it is celebrated on Sunday, April 12, 2020.. In many cities in Spain Easter Monday will still be celebrated, but generally, on Resurrection or Easter Sunday, marks the end of Holy Week.
Resurrection Sunday and Easter itself is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the grave on the third day after his crucifixion. Easter is the fulfilled prophecy of the Messiah who would be persecuted, die for our sins, and rise on the third day. (Isaiah 53). Remembering the resurrection of Jesus is a way to renew the daily hope that we have victory over sin. According to the New Testament, Easter is three days after Jesus’ death on the cross.
Resurrection Sunday sfollows a period of fasting called Lent, in which many churches set aside time for repentance and remembrance. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Good Friday, the day of Jesus’ crucifixion. The 40-day period was established by Pope Gregory 1 using the 40-day pattern of Israel, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus’ time in the desert.
The week leading up to Resurrection or Easter Sunday itself is Holy Week, or “Passion Week,” and includes Palm Sunday (the day Jesus entered Jerusalem and is celebrated), as well as the aforementioned Holy Thursday (which corresponds to the “Last Supper” in which Jesus met with his disciples to observe the Passover) and the Holy Friday (when Jesus would be crucified on the cross).
Easter is a very important date within Christianity and is the foundation of the Christian faith. Jesus, the Son of God, fulfilled the prophecy and through his death, has given the gift of eternal life in heaven to those who believe in his death and resurrection. All of this can be read in the full Biblical account of the Day of Resurrection in Matthew 28, Mark 16, and Luke 24.
What is the origin of Easter Sunday
The early Christians celebrated the resurrection on the fourteenth of Nisan (our March-April), the date of the Jewish Passover. Jewish days were reckoned from evening to night, so Jesus celebrated his last supper on Passover evening and was crucified on Passover day. The early Christians who celebrated Easter worshiped Jesus as the Passover Lamb and the Redeemer.
Some of the Gentile Christians began to celebrate the Resurrection on the Sunday closest to Easter, since Jesus really was reborn on a Sunday. This is the case in the western part of the Roman Empire, but in Rome itself, different congregations celebrated Easter on different days.
Many felt that the date should continue to be based on the time of the Resurrection during Easter. Once the Jewish leaders determined the date of Passover each year, the Christian leaders were able to establish the date of Passover by calculating three days after the crucifixion of Christ.
Others believed that since the Lord was reborn on a Sunday and this day had been set aside as the Lord’s Day, this was the only possible day to celebrate his resurrection. As Christianity drifted away from Judaism, some were reluctant to base the Christian celebration on the Jewish calendar.
Constantine wanted Christianity to be totally separate from Judaism and did not want Passover to be celebrated on Passover.. Consequently, the Council of Nicaea required that the Feast of the Resurrection be celebrated on a Sunday and never on Passover. The Easter was to be the Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Since the date of the vernal equinox changed from year to year, calculating the proper date can be difficult. This is still the method used to determine Easter today, which is why some years we have Easter earlier than other years.
When is Easter Sunday this year?
As we have mentioned before, Resurrection Sunday or Easter falls on Sunday, April 12, 2020. Easter is celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon, after the spring equinox. To advance you can see when will Easter or Resurrection Sunday be celebrated for the next 5 years.
- April 12, 2020
- April 4, 2021
- April 17, 2022
- April 9, 2023
- March 31, 2024
- April 20, 2025
What does Easter mean?
The origin of the word easter is not certain. The Venerable Bede, an 8th-century monk and scholar, suggested that the word might have come from the Anglo-Saxon Eeostre or Eastrea teutonic goddess of spring and fertility. Recent scholars have been unable to find any reference to the goddess Bede mentioned, and consider the theory discredited.
Another possibility is the Norse eostur, eastur, or ostara, meaning “the season of the rising sun.”or” or “the season of the new birth.” The word east comes from the same roots. In this case, Easter would be linked to the change of season.
A more recent and complex explanation comes from the Christian background of Easter rather than the pagan one. The early Latin name for Easter week was hebdomada alba or “white week”, while the Sunday after Easter was called dominica in albis because of the white robes of the newly baptized. The word alba is Latin for both white and sunrise. Old German speakers made a mistake in their translation and used a plural word for sunrise, ostarun, instead of a plural for white. From ostarun we have the German Ostern and the English Easter, that is, Easter.
Connection to Easter
The day before his crucifixion, Jesus observed the Passover with his disciples. This event is known as the Last Supper. Easter is the time the Jews remembered their freedom and exodus from Egypt. During this Passover feast, Jesus told his disciples that the bread symbolizes his body, which would be broken, and the wine, his blood, which would be shed for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:17-30) The Last Supper is remembered today in churches and religious services through the act of take communion and share bread and wine to remember the sacrifice of Jesus.
Jesus was arrested after the Passover meal while praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was then brought before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, to be tried and crucified on the cross.