What is Easter?
The Christian festival of Easter takes place in the spring each year. Easter is the time when Christians celebrate the death and resurrection of God’s Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
They remember his death on the cross on Good Friday and celebrate his resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday.
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This is the most important event in the Christian calendar, because the whole message of the gospel is based on Jesus’ sacrifice and his resurrection from the dead.
Some Christians prepare for Easter during the period called Lent. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which is always held 46 days (40 fasting days and 6 Sundays) before Easter Sunday.
When is Easter and why is it on different dates?
Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon which happens on or after March 21, the Spring Equinox. Therefore it can occur on any Sunday from March 22nd through to April 25th.
The date of Easter given here is the date used by the western Christian churches. It is calculated according to the rules established as part of the Gregorian calendar reform in 1582.
2000 April 23
2001 April 15
2002 March 31
2003 April 20
2004 April 11
2005 March 27
2006 April 16
2007 April 8
2008 March 23
2009 April 12
2010 April 4
2011 April 24
2012 April 8
2013 March 31
2014 April 20
2015 April 5
2016 March 27
2017 April 16
2018 April 1
2019 April 21
2020 April 12
2021 April 4
2022 April 17
2023 April 9
2024 March 31
2025 April 20
2026 April 5
2027 March 28
2028 April 16
2029 April 1
2030 April 21
2031 April 13
2032 March 28
2033 April 17
2034 April 9
2035 March 25
2036 April 13
2037 April 5
2038 April 25
2039 April 10
2040 April 1
The events remembered at Easter were predicted many times by people long before Jesus was born. These people were called prophets. You can read what they said in the Old Testament part of the Bible.
Jesus himself often talked about his own death in detail.
Old Testament prophecies
Isaiah 53:3
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Psalm 41:9
Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.
Isaiah 53:7
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
Psalm 22:1
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
The Bible says
Matthew 20:17-19
Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!’