<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><base href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Easter-holiday"><style id="print"></style><title>Easter | Origin, History, Name, Facts, & Dates | Britannica</title><div class="original-url"><br><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Easter-holiday">https://www.britannica.com/topic/Easter-holiday</a><br><br></div><div id="article" role="article" style="-webkit-locale: "en"; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="system exported">
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<div class="page" style="text-align: start; overflow-wrap: break-word; max-width: 100%;"><h1 class="title" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.95552em; line-height: 1.2141em; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: start; hyphens: manual; display: block; max-width: 100%;">Easter</h1><div class="metadata singleline" style="text-align: start; hyphens: manual; display: block; margin-bottom: 1.45em; margin-top: -0.75em; max-width: 100%;"><time datetime="2024-03-29T00:00:00CDT" class="date" style="margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; font-size: 1em !important; font-weight: normal !important; font-style: normal !important; display: inline !important;">Mar 29, 2024</time></div>
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<p style="font-style: italic; max-width: 100%;">Also known as: Pascha</p>
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Hans J. Hillerbrand</span></div>
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Raphael: <e style="max-width: 100%;">Resurrection of Christ</e> </p>
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<dt style="max-width: 100%;">Latin: </dt>
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</p><div style="max-width: 100%;"> <h3 data-value="1" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.25em; max-width: 100%;"><p style="max-width: 100%;">What is Easter?</p></h3> <h3 data-value="2" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.25em; max-width: 100%;"><p style="max-width: 100%;">Why is Easter celebrated? </p></h3> <h3 data-value="3" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.25em; max-width: 100%;"><p style="max-width: 100%;">When is Easter?</p></h3> <h3 data-value="4" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.25em; max-width: 100%;"><p style="max-width: 100%;">Why is Easter called Easter?</p></h3> </div></div><!--[BEFORE-ARTICLE]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><section data-level="1" data-has-spy="true" style="max-width: 100%;"><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span>Easter</strong>, principal <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/feast-religion" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">festival</a> of the <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Christian</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/church-architecture" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">church</a>, which celebrates the <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/resurrection-religion" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Resurrection</a> of <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesus" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Jesus Christ</a> on the third day after his <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/crucifixion-capital-punishment" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Crucifixion</a>. The earliest recorded observance of an Easter celebration comes from the 2nd century, though the commemoration of Jesus’ Resurrection probably occurred earlier.</p><!--[P1]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[AM1]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[MOD1]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><div style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><figure data-assembly-id="301868" data-asm-type="video" style="max-width: 100%; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: -apple-system-font; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); margin: 0px;"><div data-type="video" style="max-width: 100%;"><a data-id="253568" href="/video/253568/What-do-eggs-have-to-do-with-Easter" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/68/253568-138-106051A4/What-do-eggs-have-to-do-with-Easter.jpg?w=800&h=450&c=crop" alt="What do eggs have to do with Easter?" loading="lazy" class="" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0.5em auto; display: block; height: auto;" data-unique-identifier=""><p style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.4em;"><em data-icon="play_arrow" style="max-width: 100%;"></em></p></a></div><figcaption style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.8em; width: 100%; font-size: 0.75rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);"><p style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.4em;">What do eggs have to do with Easter?</p><p style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.4em;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">How did a Christian holiday get scrambled up with colored eggs? </span></p><a href="/topic/Easter-holiday/images-videos" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; text-decoration: underline;">See all videos for this article</a></figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="max-width: 100%;">The English word Easter, which parallels the German word <em style="max-width: 100%;">Ostern</em>, is of uncertain origin. One view, expounded by the Venerable <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Bede-the-Venerable" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Bede</a> in the 8th century, was that it derived from Eostre, or Eostrae, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/spring-season" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">spring</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/fertility" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">fertility</a>. This view presumes—as does the view associating the origin of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christmas" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Christmas</a> on December 25 with pagan celebrations of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/winter-solstice" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">winter solstice</a>—that Christians appropriated pagan names and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/holiday" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">holidays</a> for their highest festivals. Given the determination with which Christians combated all forms of paganism (the belief in multiple deities), this appears a rather dubious presumption. There is now widespread <a data-term="consensus" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consensus" data-type="MW" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">consensus</a> that the word derives from the Christian <a data-term="designation" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/designation" data-type="MW" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">designation</a> of Easter week as <em style="max-width: 100%;">in albis</em>, a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Latin" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Latin</a> phrase that was understood as the plural of <em style="max-width: 100%;">alba</em> (“dawn”) and became <em style="max-width: 100%;">eostarum</em> in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Old-High-German" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Old High German</a>, the <a data-term="precursor" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/precursor" data-type="MW" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">precursor</a> of the modern German and English term. The Latin and Greek Pascha (“Passover”) provides the root for Pâques, the French word for Easter.</p><!--[P2]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[AM2]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[MOD2]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span></section> <!--[H2]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><section data-level="1" data-has-spy="true" style="max-width: 100%;"> <h2 style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.43em; max-width: 100%;">The date of Easter and its controversies</h2> <div style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><figure data-assembly-id="298942" data-asm-type="video" style="max-width: 100%; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: -apple-system-font; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); margin: 0px;"><div data-type="video" style="max-width: 100%;"><a data-id="253601" href="/video/253601/History-and-observance-of-Palm-Sunday" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/01/253601-138-DB4E9963/History-and-observance-of-Palm-Sunday.jpg?w=800&h=450&c=crop" alt="What is Palm Sunday?" loading="lazy" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0.5em auto; display: block; height: auto;" data-unique-identifier=""><p style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.4em;"><em data-icon="play_arrow" style="max-width: 100%;"></em></p></a></div><figcaption style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.8em; width: 100%; font-size: 0.75rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);"><p style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.4em;">What is Palm Sunday? </p><p style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.4em;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Palm Sunday is celebrated by Christian communities on the Sunday before Easter.</span></p><a href="/topic/Easter-holiday/images-videos" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; text-decoration: underline;">See all videos for this article</a></figcaption></figure></div></div><p style="max-width: 100%;">Fixing the date on which the Resurrection of Jesus was to be observed and celebrated triggered a major controversy in early <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Christianity</a> in which an Eastern and a Western position can be distinguished. The dispute, known as the <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Paschal-controversies" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Paschal controversies</a>, was not definitively resolved until the 8th century. In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Anatolia" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Asia Minor</a>, Christians observed the day of the Crucifixion on the same day that Jews celebrated the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Passover" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Passover</a> offering—that is, on the 14th day of the first <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span>full moon of spring, 14 Nisan (<em style="max-width: 100%;">see</em> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jewish-religious-year#ref34904" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Jewish calendar</a>). The Resurrection, then, was observed two days later, on 16 Nisan, regardless of the day of the week. In the West the Resurrection of Jesus was celebrated on the first day of the week, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sunday-day-of-week" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Sunday</a>, when Jesus had risen from the dead. Consequently, Easter was always celebrated on the first Sunday after the 14th day of the month of Nisan. Increasingly, the churches opted for the Sunday celebration, and the Quartodecimans (“14th day” proponents) remained a minority. The <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/First-Council-of-Nicaea-325" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Council of Nicaea</a> in 325 <a data-term="decreed" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/decreed" data-type="EB" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">decreed</a> that Easter should be observed on the first Sunday following the first <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/full-Moon-lunar-phase" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">full moon</a> after the spring <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/equinox-astronomy" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">equinox</a> (March 21). Easter, therefore, can fall on any Sunday between March 22 and April 25.</p><!--[P3]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[AM3]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[MOD3]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span> <p style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eastern-Orthodoxy" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Eastern Orthodox</a> churches use a slightly different calculation based on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Julian-calendar" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Julian</a> rather than the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gregorian-calendar" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Gregorian calendar</a> (which is 13 days ahead of the former), with the result that the Orthodox Easter celebration usually occurs later than that celebrated by <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Protestantism" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Protestants</a> and <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-Catholicism" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Roman Catholics</a>. Moreover, the Orthodox tradition prohibits Easter from being celebrated before or at the same time as Passover.</p><!--[P4]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[AM4]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="/quiz/pop-quiz-19-things-to-know-about-christianity" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">
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</a><!--[MOD4]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span> <p style="max-width: 100%;">In the 20th century several attempts were made to arrive at a fixed date for Easter, with the Sunday following the second Saturday in April specifically proposed. While this proposal and others had many supporters, none came to fruition. Renewed interest in a fixed date arose in the early 21st century, resulting from discussions involving the leaders of Eastern Orthodox, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Syriac-Orthodox-Patriarchate-of-Antioch-and-All-the-East" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Syriac Orthodox</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Coptic-Catholic-Church" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Coptic</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Anglicanism" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Anglican</a>, and Roman Catholic churches, but formal agreement on such a date remained <a data-term="elusive" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elusive" data-type="MW" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">elusive</a>.</p><!--[P5]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[AM5]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[MOD5]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span> </section> <!--[END-OF-CONTENT]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[AFTER-ARTICLE]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span></div>
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</div></div></div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr">Reverent Dr. Carolyn Peters, National Federation Of The Blind, Ohio, affiliate, vice president, 937-657-5134,<div>Dr.Carolyn.peters@gmail.com </div><div></div><div></div></div></body></html>