Kalibrate celebrates Easter

This weekend is Easter Sunday and some of our team members will be participating in Easter celebrations, so we want to help others around the globe understand what this means.

What is Easter?

The English term is derived from the Saxon spring festival Ēostre. Easter or Resurrection Sunday is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus. It is the holiest day of the year for Christians. It celebrates their belief in the resurrection, or the rising from the dead, of Jesus Christ.

What does it mean?

Christians believe that, through his resurrection, Jesus overcame death and sin. This offers people the promise of eternal life if they follow his teachings.

When is it?

This year, Easter Sunday is on 9 April. This date varies from year to year. It is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon, on or after 21 March.

How is it celebrated?

In many churches, Easter follows a season of prayer and fasting called Lent. This is observed in memory of the 40 days Jesus is said to have fasted. The week leading up to Easter is called Holy Week. During this week, Christians remember the events they believe took place at the time of Jesus’ death. Good Friday is the Friday before Easter Sunday. It commemorates the execution of Jesus by crucifixion. During special Good Friday services Christians remember Jesus’ suffering on the cross, and what this means for their faith.

Easter Sunday marks Jesus’ resurrection. After Jesus was crucified on Friday his body was taken down from the cross and buried in a cave tomb. The tomb was guarded by Roman soldiers and an enormous stone was put over the entrance. On Sunday, Mary Magdalene and some of Jesus’ disciples visited the tomb and found the stone had been moved and that Jesus’ body had gone. Jesus was seen later that day by Mary and the disciples, and for forty days afterward by many people. His followers realized that God had raised Jesus from the dead. Christians call this the resurrection.

On Easter, Christians attend special church services. A number of popular customs are also associated with Easter. These have to do with rabbits and colored eggs, ancient symbols of new life. Nowadays, most Easter eggs are made from chocolate and covered in colored foil. Traditionally though, chicken eggs would be hard-boiled and then decorated by hand. Traditional Easter egg hunts remain popular with both Christian and non-Christian children.

We have interviewed Corey Lesieur from the Rhode Island office to share his experience of Easter and what this means to him:

Easter, when I was a kid was always such an exciting time—this time of year brought warmer weather, soccer games, and sometimes a family vacation. As I got older, I began to understand the real meaning of Easter, and now it is important to me because it commemorates the resurrection of Christ and the signal of a new life (but also the end of another bitter New England winter). I love Easter because it brings together my friends and family to reconnect and celebrate our faith, encouraging me to spread positivity and my faith to everyone around me.