CHURCH YEAR/SEASONAL DESCRIPTIONS

EASTER

On the morning after the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene and another Mary went to the tomb. As they approached the tomb, an angel came down from heaven and rolled the stone away from the door. He told the women and the Roman guards that Jesus was no longer in the tomb, that he had been raised from the dead. Easter is the day we remember Jesus’ victory over death. “Christ the Lord is risen today. Halleluiah”!

The Easter Season lasts seven weeks (50 days) beginning with Easter Day and ending with the day of Pentecost (a word meaning 50 days). Easter Day is called a movable feast, falling on the Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox (March 21). The full story of the Passion is commemorated in the days of Holy Week, leading up to Easter Day. A related Jewish festival celebrated the wheat harvest, and, as recorded in Acts, was the occasion of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Christian church. The liturgical color for the Easter season is white.

Easter was the time set aside for baptisms. So the next addition to the calendar was a time of preparation for baptism—the 40 days before Easter (not counting Sundays, which are always feast days). Over time, Lent became a time of repentance and renewal for everyone, and began with Ash Wednesday.

The season also includes Ascension Day celebrating the day on which Jesus ascended into heaven. Ascension is usually on a week day falling between the sixth and seventh Sunday of Easter. On occasion, however, Ascension falls on the seventh Sunday of Easter.

Previous Season: Lent

Next Season: Pentecost

Proper Preface: The Preface of Easter/The Preface of Ascension

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