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Easter (Greek ??s?a, Pascha or Pasxa) is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year.[1] Christians believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead two days[2] after his crucifixion, and celebrate this resurrection on Easter Sunday, two days after Good Friday. The year of this resurrection is variously estimated between the years 26 and 36 AD (see also Chronology of Jesus). Many non-sectarian cultural elements, such as the Easter Bunny, have become part of the holiday's modern celebrations, and those aspects are often celebrated by many Christians and non-Christians alike. Easter also refers to the season of the church year called Eastertide or the Easter Season. Traditionally the Easter Season lasted for the forty days from Easter Day until Ascension Day but now officially lasts for the fifty days until Pentecost. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week or the Octave of Easter. Easter also marks the end of Lent, a season of prayer and penance. Easter is termed a moveable feast because it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. Easter falls at some point between late March and late April each year (early April to early May in Eastern Christianity), following the cycle of the moon. After several centuries of disagreement, all churches accepted the computation of the Alexandrian Church (now the Coptic Church) that Easter is the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon, which is the first moon whose 14th day (the ecclesiastic "full moon") is on or after March 21 (the ecclesiastic "vernal equinox"). Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover not only for much of its symbolism but also for its position in the calendar. The Last Supper shared by Jesus and his disciples before his crucifixion is depicted by the Synoptic Gospels[3] as the Passover meal which is eaten on the first night of Unleavened Bread, Nisan 15 in the Hebrew calendar. The Gospel of John differs from the Synoptic Gospels by placing Christ's death at the time of the slaughter of the Passover lamb, which would put the Last Supper on Nisan 14, John 1828 John 1914, the "Passover" strictly so-called.Leviticus 235 In this case the Last Supper would not have been the Passover banquet, but an ordinary meal. Some have challenged this interpretation,[4] pointing out that the word "Passover", then as now, was popularly used to refer to the seven Days of Unleavened Bread Luke 221 (Nisan 15-21) as well as to the Passover itself (Nisan 14), so that the phrases "eat the Passover" John 1828 and "preparation for the Passover"John 1914 might bear some interpretation other than the usual ones. In any case, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "the Jewish feast was taken over into the Christian Easter celebration."
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