Today is Easter Sunday, which for many Christian families in the Western world means a long weekend, chocolate eggs, and perhaps a nice home-made dinner.
Bunny delivering Easter eggs
For others, however, Easter is more than that. Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar. Easter Sunday celebrates the resurrection of Jesus three days after he was executed. It also marks the end of Lent, a forty-day fasting period. People who regularly go to church usually attend a special Easter service, which is usually more elaborate than a regular Sunday service.
In Christianity, an egg symbolizes rebirth, thus the tradition of giving chocolate eggs at Easter. The egg as an religious symbol has lost a lot of its significance as a result of commercialization, however. Today, the egg is often associated with the Easter Bunny. The pagan origins of why a rabbit delivers decorated eggs to children are not entirely clear, but it is known that both the rabbit and the egg are symbols of fertility, and thus contribute to the idea of spring as a time of rebirth, revival, and, of course, the Christian resurrection.
Whether your way of celebrating Easter is traditional, or only means buying some chocolates, Happy Easter to you all!
Other Significant Days in April:
International Children’s Book Day
Tags: Easter, Easter Bunny, Easter Rabbit, Easter Sunday, Lent
Hello, I'm Deborah Swallow and, for the last fifteen years, I've worked in over thirty countries addressing the complexities of people working internationally across multiple cultures, so individuals and organisations alike can gain an authentic competitive edge and win in international markets. 