Roman Emperor Constantine and the real start of the Easter Festival
As we say above, a long time ago people used to celebrate when Spring arrived. People used to believe that changes in seasons were guided by spirits or gods, and that the blooming of plants and flowers and animals coming out of their hibernation and the return of birds brought life back to the land. This new life in spring symbolizes the new life Christians gain because of Jesus's death on the cross and His subsequent resurrection.
In ancient Egypt, Easter was celebrated at the same time Jesus was crucified during the Jewish Passover. This was so for many years. However, in A.D. 325, the Roman Emperor Constantine (after whom the old Turkish capital of Constantinople is named) convened the First Council of Nicaea (now called Turkey), which determined and published the first ever Christian Doctrine, called the Nicene Creed.
One result of the council was an agreement on the date of what they called the "Christian Passover" (Pascha in Greek) and of course what we call today, Easter in modern English, and the most important feast of the ecclesiastical calendar. Actually, some Christians in the US especially, still celebrate a Christian Passover Seder, the special family meal, but with different meanings to that of the Jewish Passover Seder.
The council decided in favour of celebrating the resurrection on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox, and authorized the Bishop of Alexandria (presumably using the Alexandrian calendar) to announce annually the exact date to his fellow bishops. Thus the dates for Easter were fixed within a range of March 22nd and April 25th. Vernal means "spring" and equinox means "equal night". This special Sunday is the one 24-hour period in spring when both day and night last exactly twelve hours.
WHAT IS LENT?
Lent is the forty days special season prior to Easter Sunday. Sundays are not counted because it is the Lord's Day and should be celebrated and therefore no fasting. Lent is a period of fasting or doing without certain foods, praying and repentance. This is to serve as a reminder of the forty days Jesus fasted in the wilderness. Some countries have celebrations like the Mardi Gras, which means "Fat Tuesday" in French, the day before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. It is also called "Carnival" sometimes. While the largest celebration is probably in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, is probably the most spectacular.
WHAT IS THE HOLY WEEK?
The Holy week is the last week of Lent. It begins with the observance of Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter Sunday. The name, Palm Sunday originated from Jesus's entry in Jerusalem. The crowd laid carpets of palms on the street for Him. The Last Supper is commemorated on Holy Thursday of special week (often called Maundy Thursday) and Friday is the anniversary of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the cross. The Lenten season and Holy week end with Easter Sunday (the Resurrection of Jesus Christ).
NAMES OF EASTER
Easter was called Pesach by early Christians. It is the Hebrew name for Passover. Today, the name for Easter in many cultures in Europe are similar to the word Pesah. For example :
France -Paques
Spain -Pascua
Italy -Pasqua
Albania -Pashke
Greece -Pascha
Norway -Paaske
Holland -Pasen
Sweden -Pask
HOW DID EASTER GET ITS NAME?
The English name "Easter" is much newer. Before Christianity in early England, the people celebrated the vernal equinox with a feast honouring Eostre, the Pagan goddess of spring. When the early English Christians wanted others to accept Christianity, they decided to use the name Easter for this holiday so that it would match the name of the old spring celebration. This made it more comfortable for other people to accept Christianity. Some believed that the word Easter came from an early German word "eostarun", meaning dawn and white. Newly baptised Christians wore white clothes as a sign of their new life on Easter.