Today is Easter Sunday

by Husna Inayathullah

Easter is the time to celebrate the new life. It is the oldest and the most important Christian Festival. It marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For Christians, the dawn of Easter Sunday with its message of new life is the high point of the Christian year.

Easter is the story of Jesus' last days in Jerusalem before his death. The Easter story includes Maundy Thursday (the Last supper leading to the Eucharist), Good Friday (the day on which Jesus was crucified) and Easter Day (the day on which Jesus came back to life).

It is a sad story because Jesus was crucified. But the story has a very happy ending because Jesus came back to life and visited his friends and followers again. He did not die at all but went back up to Heaven to be with God, his father.

Pagan traditions give us the English word "Easter" which comes from the word "Eostre". The Anglo-Saxon word for April was "Eostre-monath" (the month of openings). However, Christians celebrated the resurrection of Christ long before the word "Easter" was used. The word they used for the celebration was "Pascha", which is derived from and linked to the Jewish festival of the Passover.

According to Bede, the English monastic historian, the English word Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon name for April, which was known as "Eostremonath" and since Pascha was most often celebrated in Eostremonath, the English Christians called it "Easter." Bede also notes that the month was named after the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre. Rituals related to the goddess Eostre focus on new beginnings, symbolised by the Easter egg and fertility by the hare (or Easter bunny).