Question about Easter

[Debbie]

Just wondering-

For Christians, Easter is the time when Jesus was crucified and then rose again three days later. If Jesus was crucified on the Friday (Easter Friday), then why do we celebrate Easter on the Sunday (two days after Friday)? Why isn't it celebrated on the Monday, which would be when he ascended because it's three days after Friday?

And where does the word 'Easter' come from?
And is there any symbology in the egg thing (eggs representing a birth maybe)?

[redarrow]

He rose on the third day.. not three days later..

Not sure where the word Easter comes from..

EDIT: Oh btw.. Friday before Easter is "Good Friday" not "Easter Friday" - "Easter Friday" is the friday following Easter..
And I'm not sure about the Eggs.. there is some symbolic meaning I believe, but I cannot remember precisely what.

[ghoti]

He rose on the third day.. not three days later..

Not sure where the word Easter comes from..

EDIT: Oh btw.. Friday before Easter is "Good Friday" not "Easter Friday" - "Easter Friday" is the friday following Easter..
And I'm not sure about the Eggs.. there is some symbolic meaning I believe, but I cannot remember precisely what.

In most languages of Christian societies, other than English, German and some Slavic languages, the holiday's name is derived from Pesach, the Hebrew name of Passover, a Jewish holiday to which the Christian Easter is intimately linked. Easter depends on Passover not only for much of its symbolic meaning but also for its position in the calendar; the Last Supper shared by Jesus and his disciples before his crucifixion is generally thought of as a Passover meal, based on the chronology in the Gospels.[1] Some, however, interpreting "Passover" in John 18:28 as a single meal and not a seven-day festival,[2] interpret the Gospel of John as differing from the Synoptic Gospels by placing Christ's death at the time of the slaughter of the Passover lambs, which would put the Last Supper slightly before Passover, on 14 Nisan of the Bible's Hebrew calendar[3]. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "In fact, the Jewish feast was taken over into the Christian Easter celebration."

The English and German names, "Easter" and "Ostern," are not etymologically derived from Pesach and according to the 8th century Christian monk and historian Bede are instead related to ancient name for the Anglo Saxon goddess, Eostre, who was celebrated during Eosturmonath, equivalent to April/Aprilis[4] Bede wrote in Latin:

"Eosturmonath, qui nunc paschalis mensis interpretatur, quondam a dea illorum quae Eostre vocabatur et cui in illo festa celebrabant nomen habuit."

Translated: "Eosturmonath, which is now interpreted as the paschal month, was formerly named after the goddess Eostre, and has given its name to the festival."

In most Slavic languages, the name for Easter either means Great Day or Great Night. For example Wielkanoc and Velikonoce mean Great Night or Great Nights in Polish and Czech, respectively. Великден (Vělikděn') and Вялікдзень (Vjalikdzěn') mean 'The Great Day' in Bulgarian and Ukrainian respectively.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter

[Debbie]

Thanks redarrow. Don't mean to be facetious, but I've kinda always wondered why the day when Christ died is called "Good Friday".... what's good about it... I mean, if you're a Christian why would you call the day Jesus was murdered "good"?

[ghoti]

Good Friday is the Friday before Easter or Pascha (which is on Sunday). It commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus at Calvary.

[JK8]

Scary taught but the Christian celebrate Easter, the Jews Pesach and the Muslims the birth of Prophet Mohamed SAW. All around the same time.

[ghoti]

Scary taught but the Christian celebrate Easter, the Jews Pesach and the Muslims the birth of Prophet Mohamed SAW. All around the same time.

All around the same time, though there are many different days that the different groups have Easter on. Not even the Christian churches can agree on an absolute date.

[redarrow]

Thanks redarrow. Don't mean to be facetious, but I've kinda always wondered why the day when Christ died is called "Good Friday".... what's good about it... I mean, if you're a Christian why would you call the day Jesus was murdered "good"?

Well.. yes from that perspective it might seem strange..
But as Christians see it, He died for us and "reopened" the gates of Heaven.. so it's Good.

[nocilah]

He rose on the third day.. not three days later..

Not sure where the word Easter comes from..

EDIT: Oh btw.. Friday before Easter is "Good Friday" not "Easter Friday" - "Easter Friday" is the friday following Easter..
And I'm not sure about the Eggs.. there is some symbolic meaning I believe, but I cannot remember precisely what.

easter eggs are meant to symbolise the beginnings of a new life or something... not sure about the bunny though and wtf that has to do with eggs.

[JK8]

Well.. yes from that perspective it might seem strange..
But as Christians see it, He died for us and "reopened" the gates of Heaven.. so it's Good.

He martyred himself?

[ghoti]

Thanks redarrow. Don't mean to be facetious, but I've kinda always wondered why the day when Christ died is called "Good Friday".... what's good about it... I mean, if you're a Christian why would you call the day Jesus was murdered "good"?

It seems to be a demographic thing about what you call it. Have a look at this:

The Dutch name Goede Vrijdag translates as "Good Friday". Other languages refer to this day in different ways (mostly as holy Friday)..

In the Holy Land, Good Friday is known as "Big Friday." In Germany it is "Karfreitag", an Old German word meaning "Friday of lamentation", although this meaning is not obvious to speakers of modern German. In Armenia it is called "High Friday (Ավագ Ուրբաթ)". In Russia it is called "Passion Friday" (Страстной Пяток / Страстная Пятница).

* Great Friday: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece (Μεγάλη Παρασκευή / Megáli Paraskeví), Hungary, Macedonia, Malta (Il-Ġimgħa l-Kbira), Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and in the Eastern Orthodox Church generally
* Holy Friday: Latin America, Spain (Viernes Santo), France (Vendredi Saint), Italy (venerdi santo), Portugal, Brazil (Sexta-Feira Santa), Philippines (Mahal na Araw or Biyernes Santo), Vietnam (Thứ sáu Tuần Thánh), Japan(聖金曜日)
* Long Friday: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Faroe Islands, Iceland
* Christ's Crucifixion Day: China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau (基督受難日)

In some more secular communities Good Friday has increasingly been known simply as "Easter Friday". Technically, the following Friday (after Easter) is the correct day to be named Easter Friday.

[teraside]

Another error: Jesus did not ascend on the third day either. He stayed on earth for 40 days and ministered about the Kingdom of God.

Acts 1:3
To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

[JK8]

All around the same time, though there are many different days that the different groups have Easter on. Not even the Christian churches can agree on an absolute date.

True, but ours is according to the lunar calender so it also changes from the christian one.

[Xarog]

easter eggs are meant to symbolise the beginnings of a new life or something... not sure about the bunny though and wtf that has to do with eggs.

They're all symbols of spring which is yet another example of Christianity hijacking pagan festivals and turning them into Christian celebrations.

[ghoti]

True, but ours is according to the lunar calender so it also changes from the christian one.

Have a look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter#Date_of_Easter to see the different dates... a short quote out from it:

In Western Christianity, Easter always falls on a Sunday from March 22 to April 25 inclusive. The following day, Easter Monday, is a legal holiday in many countries with predominantly Christian traditions. In Eastern Christianity, Easter falls between April 4 and May 8 between 1900 and 1970 based on the Gregorian date.

Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts, in that they do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars (which follow the motion of the sun and the seasons). Instead, they are based on a lunar calendar similar—but not identical—to the Hebrew Calendar. The precise date of Easter has often been a matter for contention.

At the First Council of Nicaea in 325 it was decided that Easter would be celebrated on the same Sunday throughout the Church, but it is probable that no method was specified by the Council. (No contemporary account of the Council's decisions has survived.) Instead, the matter seems to have been referred to the church of Alexandria, which city had the best reputation for scholarship at the time. The Catholic Epiphanius wrote in the mid-4th Century, ..".the emperor...convened a council of 318 bishops...in the city of Nicea...They passed certain ecclesiastical canons at the council besides, and at the same time decreed in regard to the Passover that there must be one unanimous concord on the celebration of God's holy and supremely excellent day. For it was variously observed by people...".[12]

The practice of those following Alexandria was to celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the earliest fourteenth day of a lunar month that occurred on or after March 21. While since the Middle Ages this practice has sometimes been more succinctly phrased as Easter is observed on the Sunday after the first full moon on or after the day of the vernal equinox, this does not reflect the actual ecclesiastical rules precisely. The reason for this is that the full moon involved (called the Paschal full moon) is not an astronomical full moon, but an ecclesiastical moon. Determined from tables, it coincides more or less with the astronomical full moon.

The ecclesiastical rules are:

* Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after March 21 (the day of the ecclesiastical vernal equinox).
* This particular ecclesiastical full moon is the 14th day of a tabular lunation (new moon).

There is a lot more at that link.

When you say "ours" are you referring to the religion Islam? What is that holiday called and why is it celebrated?