25 Facts About Easter

Easter customs vary across the Christian world, and include sunrise services, midnight vigils, exclamations and exchanges of Paschal greetings, clipping the church, decoration and the communal breaking of Easter eggs .

Easter celebrates Jesus' supernatural resurrection from the dead, which is one of the chief tenets of the Christian faith.

Easter is linked to Passover and the Exodus from Egypt recorded in the Old Testament through the Last Supper, sufferings, and crucifixion of Jesus that preceded the resurrection.

Easter identified the bread and cup of wine as his body, soon to be sacrificed, and his blood, soon to be shed.

The following day, Easter Monday, is a legal holiday in many countries with predominantly Christian traditions.

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Easter is the third Sunday in the paschal lunar month, or, in other words, the Sunday after the paschal lunar month's 14th day.

Gregorian calculation of Easter was based on a method devised by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius for adjusting the epacts of the Moon, and has been adopted by almost all Western Christians and by Western countries which celebrate national holidays at Easter.

The Quartodeciman controversy, the first of several Easter controversies, arose concerning the date on which the holiday should be celebrated.

Canons and sermons condemning the custom of computing Easter's date based on the Jewish calendar indicate that this custom did not die out at once, but persisted for a time after the Council of Nicaea.

Original form of this calendar would have determined Easter using precise astronomical calculations based on the meridian of Jerusalem.

In most branches of Western Christianity, Easter is preceded by Lent, a period of penitence that begins on Ash Wednesday, lasts 40 days, and is often marked with fasting.

The week before Easter, known as Holy Week, is an important time for observers to commemorate the final week of Jesus' life on earth.

The Sunday before Easter is Palm Sunday, with the Wednesday before Easter being known as Spy Wednesday .

The week which begins on Easter Sunday is called Bright Week, during which there is no fasting, even on Wednesday and Friday.

Easter festival is kept in many different ways among Western Christians.

The traditional, liturgical observation of Easter, as practised among Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and some Anglicans begins on the night of Holy Saturday with the Easter Vigil which follows an ancient liturgy involving symbols of light, candles and water and numerous readings form the Old and New Testament.

Preparation for Easter begins with the season of Great Lent, which begins on Clean Monday.

Groups such as the Restored Church of God reject the celebration of Easter, seeing it as originating in a pagan spring festival adopted by the Roman Catholic Church.

Good Friday, which occurs two days before Easter Sunday, is a public holiday in many countries, as well as in 12 U S states.

In Commonwealth nations Easter Day is rarely a public holiday, as is the case for celebrations which fall on a Sunday.

In Canada, Easter Monday is a statutory holiday for federal employees.

Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays across all states and territories.

Easter Tuesday is additionally a conditional public holiday in Tasmania, varying between award, and was a public holiday in Victoria until 1994.

Easter parades are held in many American cities, involving festive strolling processions.

The custom of the Easter egg originated in the early Christian community of Mesopotamia, who stained eggs red in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at his crucifixion.

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