Today is Easter Sunday

Those who follow the Julian calendar will celebrate Orthodox Easter on April 20 (the dates of the two holidays usually differ, with Orthodox Easter being celebrated later).

The date of Easter changes because of the moon. Each year, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. This year, the first vernal equinox wasn't until March 20, which is why Easter will take place in late April. Easter is also arguably the most important holiday in Roman Catholicism. It marks the end of Lent -- when fasting occurs for 40 days and nights - and celebrates the resurrection of Christ. Good Friday is honoured in remembrance of his crucifixion.

Over the years , Easter has adopted some pagan traditions. It's rumoured that the holiday took its name from Eostre, a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, or hebdomada calba, which means white week in Latin. Commercialism has also slipped its way into the Easter celebration. The spring holiday is widely associated with coloured eggs, chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chicks. It's standard for children to celebrate the holiday by getting Easter baskets, searching for hidden eggs and wearing pastel colours and bonnets. The mythical Easter bunny brings baskets to children and hides the eggs, which kids search for on Easter Sunday morning.

'Easter eggs', also called 'Paschal eggs', are special eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide.

The oldest tradition is to use dyed and painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans. Eggs, in general, were a traditional symbol of fertility, and rebirth. In Christianity for the celebration of Eastertide, Easter eggs symbolise the empty tomb of Jesus though an egg appears to be like the stone of a tomb.

A bird hatches from it with life; similarly, the Easter egg, for Christians is a reminder that Jesus rose from the dead.

The practice of decorating the eggshell is ancient, pre-dating Christian traditions. Ostrich eggs with engraved decoration that are 60,000 years old have been found in Africa. Decorated ostrich eggs, and representations of ostrich eggs in gold and silver, were commonly placed in graves of the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians as early as 5,000 years ago. The custom of the Easter egg, however, originated in the early Christians Mesopotamia who stained eggs red in memory of the blood of Jesus.

Blessing of Easter food in Poland

The Easter egg tradition may also have merged into the celebration of the end of the privations of Lent in the West. Historically, it was traditional to use up all of the household's eggs before Lent began.

Eggs were originally forbidden during Lent as well as on other traditional fast days in Western Christianity (this tradition still continues among the Eastern Christian churches.)

Likewise, meat, eggs and dairy are prohibited during the Lenten fast. This established the tradition of Pancake Day being celebrated on Shrove Tuesday.

This day, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday when Lent begins, is also known as Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is a French phrase which translates as "Fat Tuesday" to mark the last consumption of eggs and dairy before Lent begins.

During Lent, since chickens would not stop producing eggs during this time,a larger than usual store might be available at the end of the fast if the eggs had not been allowed to hatch.

The surplus, if any, had to be eaten quickly to prevent spoiling. Then, with the coming of Easter, Pascha Easter and the eating of eggs resumes.

One would have been forced to hard boil the eggs. Boiled egg that the chickens produced so as not to waste food, and for this reason the Spanish traditionally eaten on and around Easter) contains hard-boiled eggs as a primary ingredient. In Hungary eggs are used sliced in potato casseroles around the Easter period.

Decoration and symbolism

Easter eggs from the Czech Republic are decorated with straw.

In the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, Easter eggs are dyed red to represent the blood of Christ shed on the Cross, and the hard shell of the egg symbolised the sealed Tomb of Christ the cracking of which symbolised his resurrection from the dead. Easter eggs are blessed by the priest at the end of the Paschal Vigil wich is equivalent to Holy Saturday and distributed to the faithful.

The egg is seen by followers of Christianity as a symbol of resurrection while being dormant it contains a new life sealed within it. Blessing of decorative baskets with a sampling of Easter eggs and other symbolic foods, is one of the most enduring and beloved Polish traditions on Holy Saturday.

There are many other decorating techniques and numerous traditions of giving them as a token of friendship, love or good wishes. A tradition exists in some parts of the United Kingdom of rolling painted eggs down steep hills on Easter Sunday. In the U.S., such an Easter egg roll is often done on flat ground, pushed along with a spoon .

The Easter Egg Roll has become a much-loved annual event on the White House lawn. An Easter egg hunt is a common festive activity, where eggs are hidden outdoors (or indoors if in bad weather) for children to run around and find.

This may also be a contest to see who can collect the most eggs.

When boiling eggs for Easter, a popular tan colour can be achieved by boiling the eggs with onion skins. A greater variety of colour was often provided by tying on the onion skin with different coloured woollen yarn.

In the North of England these are called pace-eggs or paste-eggs, from a dialectal form of Middle English 'pasche'. They were usually eaten after an egg-jarping (egg tapping )competition. Natural colours are obtained by using various plants.

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