Christian Origins
Easter is the annual festival commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the principal feast of the Christian year. It is celebrated on a Sunday on varying dates between March 22 and April 25 and is therefore called a movable feast. The dates of several other ecclesiastical festivals, extending over a period between Septuagesima Sunday (the ninth Sunday before Easter) and the first Sunday of Advent, are fixed in relation to the date of Easter.
Connected with the observance of Easter are the 40-day penitential season of Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday and concluding at midnight on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday; Holy Week, commencing on Palm Sunday, including Good Friday, the day of the crucifixion, and terminating with Holy Saturday; and the Octave of Easter, extending from Easter Sunday through the following Sunday. During the Octave of Easter in early Christian times, the newly baptized wore white garments, white being the liturgical color of Easter and signifying light, purity, and joy.
The Christian festival of Easter probably embodies a number of converging traditions; most scholars emphasize the original relation of Easter to the Jewish festival of Passover, or Pesach, from which is derived Pasch, another name for Easter. The early Christians, many of whom were of Jewish origin, were brought up in the Hebrew tradition and regarded Easter as a new feature of the Passover festival, a commemoration of the advent of the Messiah as foretold by the prophets.
The Tizona Group 
March 22, 2008, 8:40 pm at 8:40 pm
Look Ash, they named a day after you. 😉
March 22, 2008, 11:43 pm at 11:43 pm
Happy Easter Cid and Happy Easter to all. God bless.
March 23, 2008, 12:32 am at 12:32 am
They should name EVERY day after me Cid. I’m just. that. good!
Happy Easter!
March 23, 2008, 3:34 am at 3:34 am
Happy Easter to all my Christian friends.
March 23, 2008, 4:28 am at 4:28 am
Ash, well since you are “I’m just. that. good!”…I have a surprise for you. Henceforth, Hencefiveth, Hencesixth, etc. ALL days will be named after “I’m just. that. good!” We shall start with “I’m just. that. goodfriday”.
You will be rich, beyond your wildest dreams. AND happy, too. I think…. 🙂
March 23, 2008, 4:48 am at 4:48 am
This is also the earliest Easter any of us will ever see. The next time it will be this early will be in about 220 years. It can only ever possibly be one day earlier, on the 22nd, and that won’t happen for nearly 300 years. The last time it was on the 23rd was in 1918.
The way it works is, Easter is calculated by the lunar cycle after the spring equinox.
So, enjoy this early Easter!
March 23, 2008, 4:51 am at 4:51 am
#6 If ya wanna get teknimikal…
Easter’s date is determined by the spring equinox – the point in the year when the day and night are of equal length. If the full moon after the equinox is on a Sunday, then Easter is on the following Sunday.
The formula was decided after much controversy among early Christians in 325. The festival cannot fall earlier than 22 March or later than 25 April.
It may look daunting to non-mathematicians but the fiendishly complex formula used to work out when Easter actually falls is:
((19*t+u-w-(u-(u+8)\25)+1)\3)+15)mod30)+(32+2*x+2*y-(19*t+u-w- (u-(u+8)\25)+1)\3)+15)mod30)-z)mod7)-7*(t+11*(19*t+u-w(u- (u+8)\25)+1)\3)+15)mod30)+22*(32+2*x+2*y-(19*t+u-w-(u- (u+8)\25)+1)\3)+15)mod30)-g)mod7)+114)\31
This year will be the earliest anyone now alive will ever see Easter because it will not fall this early again for over 100 years – in 2160.
March 23, 2008, 4:53 am at 4:53 am
Thank you, Sir Bingbing.
March 23, 2008, 6:59 am at 6:59 am
Actually, Spot, I was going to get technical, but I figured if I did, people would think me a pompous dog (I owed you one). LOL!
March 23, 2008, 7:04 am at 7:04 am
#9 I’m just overcompensating. I’m still smarting about the tilty-head comment 😉
March 23, 2008, 7:08 am at 7:08 am
This is the part where I should be slinking out of sight…
March 23, 2008, 9:45 pm at 9:45 pm
Gosh, was it Easter? Hope it was a good one for you all.