Holidays: Easter and Passover

Easter, annual festival commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the principal feast of the Christian year. It is celebrated on a Sunday on varying dates between March 22 and April 25 and is therefore called a movable feast. The dates of several other ecclesiastical festivals, extending over a period between Septuagesima Sunday (the ninth Sunday before Easter) and the first Sunday of Advent, are fixed in relation to the date of Easter.

Connected with the observance of Easter are the 40-day penitential season of Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday and concluding at midnight on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday; Holy Week, commencing on Palm Sunday, including Good Friday, the day of the crucifixion, and terminating with Holy Saturday; and the Octave of Easter, extending from Easter Sunday through the following Sunday. During the Octave of Easter in early Christian times, the newly baptized wore white garments, white being the liturgical color of Easter and signifying light, purity, and joy.

Taken from Easter in Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia

Passover, important Jewish festival commemorating the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their safe flight across the Red Sea (see judaism, Festivals ). This flight, described in the Book of Exodus, was led by Moses.

The name of the festival (Heb. pesah, “passing over” or “protection”) is derived from the instructions given to Moses by God (see Exod. 12:3–17). To encourage the Egyptians to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt, God intends to “smite all the first-born . . . both man and beast” in the land. To protect themselves, the Israelites are told to mark their dwellings with lamb’s blood so that God can identify and thus pass over them.

Taken from Passover in Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia