Easter

==Liturgical observance==
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[[File:Easter Sunday 2016.jpg|thumb|Christian worshippers attend an Easter Sunday [[church service]] at [[St James's Church, Piccadilly]], London. The cross in the [[chancel]] is draped with a white [[shroud]], symbolizing the resurrection.<ref name="SL2023">{{cite web |title=These Are the Real Meanings behind the Colors of Easter |url=https://www.southernliving.com/holidays-occasions/easter/easter-colors#toc-white |publisher=[[Southern Living]] |access-date=10 April 2023 |date=14 February 2023 |quote=On Easter, the color white symbolizes purity, grace, and, ultimately, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is the joyful culmination of the Easter season. On this holiday, white Easter lilies are displayed in churches and homes, symbolizing the purity of Christ and representing a trumpet sharing the message that Jesus has risen. }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Meaning of Cross Drape Colors |url=https://www.wakeunion.com/meaning-of-cross-drape-colors.html |publisher=Wake Union Baptist Church |access-date=10 April 2023 |quote=The cross is draped in white on Easter Sunday, representing the resurrection of Christ and that He was "...''raised again for our justification''."}}</ref>]]

=== Western Christianity ===
The Easter festival is kept in many different ways among Western Christians. The traditional, [[liturgy|liturgical]] observation of Easter, as practised among Roman Catholics, [[Lutheran]]s,<ref>[http://www.liturgybytlw.com/Lent/VigNotes.html Notes for the Easter Vigil] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121112654/https://www.liturgybytlw.com/Lent/VigNotes.html |date=21 November 2021 }}, website of Lutheran pastor Weitzel</ref> and some [[Anglican]]s begins on the night of [[Holy Saturday]] with the [[Easter Vigil]] which follows an ancient liturgy involving symbols of light, candles and water and numerous readings form the Old and New Testament.<ref>[https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=1043 Catholic Activity: Easter Vigil] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210915231610/https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=1043 |date=15 September 2021 }}, entry on catholicculture.org</ref>

Services continue on Easter Sunday and in a number of countries on [[Easter Monday]]. In parishes of the [[Moravian Church]], as well as some other denominations such as the [[Methodist Church]]es, there is a tradition of Easter [[sunrise service]]s,<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/sunrise-celebration-easter-service/2012/04/08/gIQA6ExV4S_gallery.html?noredirect=on Easter observed at Sunrise Celebration] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225181405/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/sunrise-celebration-easter-service/2012/04/08/gIQA6ExV4S_gallery.html?noredirect=on |date=25 December 2019 }}, report of Washington Post April 2012</ref> often starting in [[God's Acre|cemeteries]]<ref>[https://www.courant.com/community/pomfret/hc-pt-pomfret-easter-service-a-tradition-0407-20160404-story.html Sunrise Service At Abington Cemetery Is An Easter Tradition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124005037/https://www.courant.com/community/pomfret/hc-pt-pomfret-easter-service-a-tradition-0407-20160404-story.html |date=24 January 2021 }}, report of Hartford Courant newspaper of 4 April 2016</ref> in remembrance of the biblical narrative in the Gospels, or other places in the open where the sunrise is visible.<ref>{{cite web |title=Easter sunrise services: A celebration of resurrection |url=https://www.umc.org/en/content/easter-sunrise-services-a-celebration-of-resurrection |website=The United Methodist Church |access-date=4 April 2021 |date=5 April 2019 |archive-date=23 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211223103139/https://www.umc.org/en/content/easter-sunrise-services-a-celebration-of-resurrection |url-status=live }}</ref>

In some traditions, Easter services typically begin with the [[Paschal greeting]]: "Christ is risen!" The response is: "He is risen indeed. Alleluia!"<ref>{{cite web |title=The Easter Liturgy |url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/times-and-seasons-6 |website=The Church of England |access-date=4 April 2021 |archive-date=19 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019145516/https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/times-and-seasons-6 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Eastern Christianity ===
[[File:Receiving the Holy Light at Easter.jpg|thumb|The congregation lighting their candles from the new flame, just as the priest has retrieved it from the altar. The picture is [[Flash (photography)|flash-illuminated]]; all electric lighting is off, and only the [[oil lamp]]s in front of the [[Iconostasis]] remain lit. ([[Community and Parish of Saint George Thebarton, Adelaide, South Australia|St. George Greek Orthodox Church]], Adelaide).]]

[[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox]], [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholics]] and [[Byzantine Rite Lutheranism|Byzantine Rite Lutherans]] have a similar emphasis on Easter in their calendars, and many of their liturgical customs are very similar.<ref name="Moroz">{{cite web|url=https://risu.org.ua/ua/index/exclusive/kaleidoscope/63352/|script-title=uk:Лютерани східного обряду: такі є лише в Україні|last=Moroz|first=Vladimir|date=10 May 2016|publisher=РІСУ – Релігійно-інформаційна служба України|language=uk|access-date=19 September 2018|quote=В українських лютеран, як і в ортодоксальних Церквах, напередодні Великодня є Великий Піст або Чотиридесятниця.|archive-date=15 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815014943/https://risu.org.ua/ua/index/exclusive/kaleidoscope/63352/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Preparation for Easter begins with the season of [[Great Lent]], which begins on [[Clean Monday]].<ref name="histchan">{{cite web |title=Easter |url=https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/history-of-easter |website=History.com |publisher=[[History (U.S. TV network)|History]] |access-date=20 April 2019 |archive-date=9 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209232116/https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/history-of-easter |url-status=live }}</ref> While the end of Lent is [[Lazarus Saturday]], fasting does not end until Easter Sunday.<ref name="easter looks different">{{cite news |last=Olp |first=Susan |title=Celebrating Easter Looks Different for Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches |url=https://billingsgazette.com/news/local/celebrating-easter-looks-different-for-eastern-orthodox-catholic-and-protestant/article_367482c7-49b8-5d22-aad4-4e49a6631fdb.html |access-date=20 April 2019 |work=The Billings Gazette |archive-date=29 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129183358/https://billingsgazette.com/news/local/celebrating-easter-looks-different-for-eastern-orthodox-catholic-and-protestant/article_367482c7-49b8-5d22-aad4-4e49a6631fdb.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Orthodox service begins late Saturday evening, observing the Jewish tradition that evening is the start of liturgical holy days.<ref name="easter looks different" />

The church is darkened, then the priest lights a candle at midnight, representing the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Altar servers light additional candles, with a procession which moves three times around the church to represent the three days in the tomb.<ref name="easter looks different" /> The service continues early into Sunday morning, with a feast to end the fasting. An additional service is held later that day on Easter Sunday.<ref name="easter looks different" />

=== Non-observing Christian groups ===
Many [[Puritan]]s saw traditional feasts of the established Anglican Church, such as All Saints' Day and Easter, as [[abomination (Bible)|abominations]] because the Bible does not mention them.<ref name="Daniels89">Daniels, Bruce Colin (1995). Puritans at Play: Leisure and Recreation in Colonial New England. Macmillan, p. 89, {{ISBN|978-0-31216124-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Roark|first1=James|last2=Johnson|first2=Michael|last3=Cohen|first3=Patricia|last4=Stage|first4=Sarah|last5=Lawson|first5=Alan|last6=Hartmann|first6=Susan|title=Understanding the American Promise: A History, Volume I: To 1877 |date=2011 |publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|page=91|quote=Puritans mandated other purifications of what they considered corrupt English practices. They refused to celebrate Christmas or Easter because the Bible did not mention either one.}}</ref> Conservative Reformed denominations such as the [[Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland]] and the [[Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America]] likewise reject the celebration of Easter as a violation of the [[regulative principle of worship]] and what they see as its non-Scriptural origin.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Regulative Principle of Worship|publisher=Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland|access-date=12 April 2022|url=https://www.fpchurch.org.uk/about-us/how-we-worship/the-regulative-principle-of-worship|quote=Those who adhere to the Regulative Principle by singing exclusively the psalms, refusing to use musical instruments, and rejecting "Christmas", "Easter" and the rest, are often accused of causing disunity among the people of God. The truth is the opposite. The right way to move towards more unity is to move to exclusively Scriptural worship. Each departure from the worship instituted in Scripture creates a new division among the people of God. Returning to Scripture alone to guide worship is the only remedy.|archive-date=14 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220214205134/https://www.fpchurch.org.uk/about-us/how-we-worship/the-regulative-principle-of-worship/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Minutes of Session of 1905|publisher=Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America|date=1905|page=130|quote=WHEREAS, There is a growing tendency in Protestant Churches, and to some extent in our own, to observe days and ceremonies, as Christmas and Easter, that are without divine authority; we urge our people to abstain from all such customs as are popish in their origin and injurious as lending sacredness to rites that come from paganism; that ministers keep before the minds of the people that only institutions that are Scriptural and of Divine appointment should be used in the worship of God.}}</ref>

Easter is rejected by groups such as the [[Restored Church of God]], who claim it originated as a pagan spring festival adopted by the Roman Catholic Church.<ref>{{cite web |last=Pack |first=David |title=The True Origin of Easter |url=http://www.thercg.org/books/ttooe.html#c|publisher=The Restored Church of God |access-date=24 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426025504/http://www.thercg.org/books/ttooe.html |archive-date=26 April 2011 }}</ref><ref name="Okogba 2019">{{cite web | last=Okogba | first=Emmanuel | title=A philosophical critique of Easter celebration (1) | website=Vanguard News | date=2019-04-21 | url=https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/04/a-philosophical-critique-of-easter-celebration-1/ | access-date=2023-04-23}}</ref>

[[Jehovah's Witnesses]] maintain a similar view, observing a yearly commemorative service of the [[Last Supper]] and the subsequent execution of Christ on the evening of Nisan 14 (as they calculate the dates derived from the lunar [[Hebrew calendar]]). It is commonly referred to by many Witnesses as simply "The Memorial". Jehovah's Witnesses believe that such verses as {{bibleverse||Luke|22:19–20|KJV}} and {{bibleverse|1|Corinthians|11:26|KJV}} constitute a commandment to remember the death of Christ, though not the resurrection.<ref name="BBC 2006">{{cite web | title=Religions - Witnesses: Jehovah's Witnesses at a glance | website=BBC | date=2006-08-30 | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/witnesses/ataglance/glance.shtml | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215065417/https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/witnesses/ataglance/glance.shtml | archive-date=2022-12-15 | url-status=live | access-date=2023-04-23}}</ref><ref name="jw.org">{{cite web |title=Easter or the Memorial{{snd}}Which Should You Observe? |url=http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/wp19960401/origin-of-easter-not-in-bible/ |work=Watchtower Magazine|publisher=Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania |access-date=11 April 2014 |date=1 April 1996 |archive-date=18 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140418134842/http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/wp19960401/origin-of-easter-not-in-bible/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Members of the [[Religious Society of Friends|Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)]], as part of their historic ''testimony against times and seasons'', do not celebrate or observe Easter or any traditional feast days of the established Church, believing instead that "every day is the [[Lord's Day]]," and that elevation of one day above others suggests that it is acceptable to do un-Christian acts on other days.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brownlee |first=William Craig |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1fgpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA243|title=A Careful and Free Inquiry into the True Nature and Tendency of the ...|date=1824 |access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=1 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801065800/https://books.google.com/books?id=1fgpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA243|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://qfp.quaker.org.uk/passage/27-42/| title = See ''Quaker Faith & practice'' of Britain Yearly Meeting, Paragraph 27:42| access-date = 21 April 2014| archive-date = 8 June 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210608190613/https://qfp.quaker.org.uk/passage/27-42/| url-status = live}}</ref> During the 17th and 18th centuries, Quakers were persecuted for this non-observance of Holy Days.<ref>[http://www.fum.org/QL/issues/1112/EarlyQuakerTop10.htm ''Quaker life'', December 2011: "Early Quaker Top 10 Ways to Celebrate (or Not) "the Day Called Christmas" by Rob Pierson] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206202629/http://www.fum.org/QL/issues/1112/EarlyQuakerTop10.htm |date=6 February 2012 }}</ref>