EASTER DAY
On the first Sunday after a full moon or after 21 March
Easter comes from an ancient name for the Goddess of spring, Easter. Spring is the season of new life in nature and on Easter Sunday Christ made a promise of new life for people who believe in Him. One of the best known symbols of Easter is the egg, a symbol of new life.
The holiest of all Christian festivals is Easter. Easter is celebrated as the day that Jesus Christ rose from the death and went up to Heaven to be with God, His father, Christians believe that Christ died on a Friday and then was buried in a Tomb. At dawn on Sunday morning (Easter Sunday) two women found that He was gone.
At dawn on Easter Sunday in America, many people go to special Easter services outside, in a church yard, or park, or on a hilltop. As the sun rises beautiful bells ring in every church, calling people to come and worship. Later in the morning people dress in their newest spring clothes and attend the services in the church. They listen to the story of Christ read from the bible by the minister or priest, hear music written especially for Easter, and thank God for the promise of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Boys and girls believe in the Easter rabbit and wait excitedly for him to come. The Easter bunny, a big white rabbit will visit every house very early on Easter morning. He has a basket of bright colored eggs for every child. He hides the eggs around the yard, in the tall grass or among the flowers and he leaves the basket in front of the house. When the children wake up they run outside to look for the eggs. Really, it is the fathers, and mothers who hide the eggs while the children are asleep. The rabbit becomes part of the tradition of Easter because it is a symbol of the moon, and the date of Easter is set according to the full moon.
Easter is a holiday to welcome the beginning of spring. All Churches are full of beautiful flowers, especially the flowers of Easter, the Easter Lily. Woman and girls always buy new spring hats and dresses for Easter. In New York there is a great parade with thousands of people walking along Fifth Avenue in their finest spring clothes. And Nature is dressed in here finest spring flowers and leaves, with sunny blue sky overhead.