Easter

Easter is the most important festivity of the year for Christians. 

On Easter Day Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Easter Day is on the first Sunday after the full moon in March. 

This day is between 22 March and 25 April.

For Christians the week before Easter is Holy Week.
On Holy Thursday Christians remember the last meal Jesus had with his
Disciples.
On Good Friday Christians believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross. 

On Easter Day they believe that Jesus Christ came back to life and went to heaven. Many Christian families go to church on Easter Day in the morning.

 There are also non-religious Easter traditions. One of these is wearing new clothes or new shoes. In America there are Easter Bonnet parades. Girls and women make their own original Easter bonnets and march in a parade. The famous Easter Bonnet Parade on Fifth Avenue in New York City is a tradition from the middle of the nineteenth century. Thousands of people go to watch it.

               Easter Eggs and the Easter Bunny

In the days before Easter American and British children sometimes paint Easter eggs with bright colours.

 Immigrants from Germany brought the tradition of the Easter Bunny to America. 
On Easter Day there are Easter egg hunts. Parents hide eggs and ask their children to find them. When they find them they put them in colourful baskets. The child with the most eggs is the winner.There are many games that you can play with eggs. For example, you can roll eggs down a hill: the eggs must arrive at the bottom without breaking. On Easter Monday children from Washington, DC go the White House gardens and play all kinds of games with eggs.This tradition started in 1872, and the children of the President of the United States usually take part in the games.

                                    Special Easter Foods

 Families usually spend Easter Day together.The traditional Easter meal is roast lamb, new potatoes, peas and other vegetables.There are chocolate eggs for children. Some eggs have a surprise inside.Hot cross buns are typical on Good Friday in Britain. They are small, sweet cakes with a cross on top: the cross represents Jesus Christ's death on the cross.

                      Events before Easter

Before Easter there is a period of time in the Christian calendar called Lent.
It lasts for forty weekdays until Easter Day.
During Lent some Christians do not eat some of their favourite foods.
The day before Lent starts is called Shrove Tuesday.
On this day the Christian tradition is to use all the fat foods in the kitchen before Lent begins.

Shrove Tuesday in Great Britain is also called Pancake Day because it is traditional to eat pancakes. This is because pancakes use fat foods in the kitchen before Lent starts. In some places there are pancake races. People run and toss pancakes in a frying pan. They must not drop the pancakes as they run.

 Shrove Tuesday is called Mardi Gras in America. 'Mardi Gras' means 'Fat Tuesday' in French: the name refers to using fat foods before Lent. Mardi Gras is famous in America because of the carnival in New Orleans. Traditionally, carnival was a time of eating, drinking and fun before the serious period of Lent. In New Orleans there are celebrations and parades with amazing costumes for twelve days before Mardi Gras.Around three million people go to this carnival every year.

 Happy Easter!