Easter, also known as Resurrection Day celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, is the most important religious feast of the Christian liturgical year.
In the Roman Catholic Church, Easter is an eight-day feast called the Octave of Easter.
The first Easter occurred on March 25 in the year 31 A.D., according to early Christian chronographer Sextus Julius Africanus, who also placed the Incarnation of Christ on March 25 and the birth of Jesus exactly nine months later, or December 25.
Easter Sunday
Easter is observed on a Sunday between late March and late April, generally occurring on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox.
The formula for Easter Sunday was set at the Council of Nicaea in 325.
Since Passover falls on full moon (14 Nissan of the Jewish calendar) many Christians in the early church celebrated Christ's resurrection on that day – which could be any day of the week.
At Nicaea, there was agreement Easter Day needed to be always a Sunday. It was decided that Easter Day would be celebrated on the first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon (this is a calculated lunar cycle – sometimes not exactly equivalent to the astronomical reality) that occurs on or after March 21 (the day of the ecclesiastical vernal equinox).
Easter Sunday can fall as early as March 22 or at the latest on April 25.
Eastern Orthodox Easter
Orthodox Catholics usually celebrate Easter almost a month after Roman Catholics. There are approximately 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide.
In Romania, where 85 percent of the population is Orthodox Christian, the resurrection of Christ is celebrated on the evening before Easter Sunday with a holy flame originating in Jerusalem that is passed between churches.
Worshippers visit their local church with candles and take the flame - which is seen as a light from God - back into their homes for Easter Sunday.
