Easter Reading - learnEnglish-online

Easter is a very important holiday all over the world. It is
celebrated in many countries in both religious and
non-religious ways. In both cases, it is a holiday that many
people enjoy.

Religious Celebrations of Easter

Easter is one of the oldest and most celebrated holidays in the
Christian Church. It honours the resurrection of Jesus and has
also been called Resurrection Day, or the Sunday of
Resurrection. The date of Easter has been debated and
changed. However,
the holiday now falls on the first Sunday after the first
ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after March 21. This
means the holiday can be any Sunday from March 22nd to
April 25th.

The religious tradition is that on Saturday night there is an
Easter vigil held in the Church. This is one of the most
important Church services of the year. It includes the blessing
of the Easter fire and the lighting of a large Paschal candle. As
well, there is normally a church service on Sunday, which may
be followed by a feast.

Good Friday

The Friday before Easter Sunday is named Good Friday, and it
is a commemoration of the death of Christ. In Christian
tradition, the liturgy consists of reading the passion, the
ceremony of the veneration of the cross, and communion
from the sacrament
consecrated the day before.

Lent

Lent is a period of 40 days in which Christians observe specific
sacrifices. Often people give up certain things in their life they
feel are not goo for them. This period begins on Ash
Wednesday and ends on Easter. Easter marks the end of Lent,
which is another reason why it is so important in the Church.

Non-Religious Celebrations of Easter

Like several Catholic holidays, Easter is also celebrated in a
non-religious way. Many people in the United States, Canada,
and the Europe celebrate Easter as a time of gathering,
feasting and welcoming the arrival of spring. Easter has
become a very commercial holiday, and is a popular time for
giving greeting cards, chocolate, and other gifts.

The Easter Bunny

The biggest symbol of Easter is the Easter Bunny. The
tradition says that the Easter Bunny comes to the homes of
children when they are sleeping and hides eggs for them to
find when they wake-up in the morning. It is common for
children to decorate and paint the shells of eggs. Often, the
eggs are decorated in bright colours to represent springtime.
The Easter Bunny will then hide the eggs when the children are
sleeping. More recently, the Easter Bunny hides chocolate
eggs, which the children find and eat. Now, many people give
chocolate or candy rabbits as gifts. The first candy Easter
Bunnies were made in Germany and are now popular all over
the world. In fact, the symbol of the Easter Bunny was
brought to North America by German immigrants.

The Holiday of Spring

For many people Easter is a holiday to celebrate the arrival of
spring. Therefore, springtime themes are represented in
Easter. This includes flowers such as tulips. As well, the
traditional colours of spring are seen at Easter, such as bright
yellow, light blue, and pink. It is also common for children to
receive gifts. These gifts are often new clothes that can be
worn in the arriving warm weather, like spring dresses for
girls.