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Easter: Easter Sunday
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Easter is the central point in a long season of religious observances. It is preceded by Lent, a 40-day period of penitence and prayer observed by many Christians. Among Western churches, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday, the last day of Holy Week, which immediately precedes Easter Sunday. The Easter Season lasts until Trinity Sunday, the eighth Sunday after Easter.
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Easter is the oldest and the most important Christian Festival, the celebration of the death and coming to life again of Jesus Christ. For Christians, the dawn of Easter Sunday with its message of new life is the high point of the Christian year.
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From the earliest days of the church, the Easter Vigil was primarily a means of preparing new converts for baptism into the Christian Faith, which was normally done on Easter Sunday as the focal point of the entire year. This preparation traditionally arises from a set of Scripture readings from the Old Testament that recounts the unfolding of God’s creation of a people in the Exodus, and a promise of restoration from Zephaniah (see Readings for the Easter Vigil). Following the lead of the Gospels themselves, this provides a crucial link between the revelation of God in Christ and the creation of the church with God’s past revelation of himself and the creation of his people Israel. This important emphasis on the continuity of the church with the Old Testament’s witness to God ... helps define the nature of the church and its mission in the world, thoroughly grounding it in the ongoing work of God in history. The Gospel readings at the Vigil are not normally read until after sunrise on Sunday, or at the very end of the Easter Vigil.
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On Easter Sunday, young girls performed hahilky in front of the church or in the cemetery. In pagan times hahilky were performed in sacred groves by the water. These group dances, songs, games and dramatic scenes were believed to serve a magical function with the aim of enticing Spring and chasing Winter away. These songs and dances personified a funeral for frost and winter. They ... imitated planting and growth of crops, and tried to ensure a bountiful harvest through the magic of music, words and body motion.
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Before the Easter Sunday service, the spikes and black drape are removed and the cross is covered with real flowers and the top draped in white. There are various ways to do this. Some churches use a chicken wire mesh over the cross and have worshippers each place flowers on the cross as part of the Easter Vigil service or as they arrive at church on Easter morning. For this to be effective, there must be enough flowers to cover all of the front and sides of the cross. Another approach is to have small holes drilled in the wood to accept florist-type vials that hold cut flowers. The entire cross is covered with the flowers and is placed prominently at the front of the church to greet worshippers as they enter the sanctuary on Easter Sunday.
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Although Easter is probably the oldest Christian celebration aside from the Sabbath, it wasn't always the same as what people currently think of when they look at Easter services. The earliest known observances, known as Pasch, occurred between the 2nd and 4th centuries. These celebrations commemorated both Jesus' death and his resurrection at once, whereas these two events have been split up between Good Friday and Eastern Sunday today.
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Easter Sunday