Easter Sunday | When is Easter 2024

Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon of the spring, the nominal date of the Spring Equinox. The week before Easter is known as “Holy Week”—it 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.

What is Good Friday

Easter and the holidays that are related to it are movable feasts that do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars which follow only the cycle of the sun. However, it is always held on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25.

In Western Christianity, using the Gregorian calendar, Easter always falls on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April inclusive, within about seven days after the astronomical full moon. Eastern Christianity bases its calculations on the Julian Calendar. Because of the 13-day difference between the calendars between 1900 and 2099, 21 March corresponds, during the 21st century, to 3 April in the Gregorian Calendar. Easter, therefore, varies between 4 April and 8 May on the Gregorian calendar.

Before the advent of Christianity, Easter began as a pagan festival celebrating spring in the Northern Hemisphere. For Christians, Easter celebrates the resurrection of Christ following his crucifixion and redemption of mankind from sin and is the most important of the religious holidays. Easter is a public holiday and many places follow Easter Monday also as a holiday while retail stores and shopping malls and restaurants are closed on Easter Sunday. Good Friday which is two days before Easter Sunday is also a public holiday, so the break is also called Easter break.

Easter Sunday church services vary in traditions, depending upon the denomination and style of worship. Most Easter Sunday services follow the church’s standard order of worship, There is early morning sunrise or “sunrise ” services.

The main custom followed on this day is decorated Easter egg, the Easter egg is a symbol of the empty tomb and Easter Bunny recalls the hare, the Egyptian symbol of fertility. The oldest tradition is to use dyed chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute eggs made from chocolate, or plastic eggs filled with candy such as jellybeans.

Once the eggs are decorated, children search for eggs hidden throughout their homes or gardens. In some traditions, the Easter Bunny hides the eggs on Easter morning for the children to find later that day. In many places, there is an Easter parade on Sunday or the day before Easter.

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