Does Easter finish when the shops run out of mini-eggs? Or at the end of the school holidays?
Many people think of Easter as lasting only a few days, but Christians have always celebrated it as a season. It is the season in which we focus on the meaning of the empty tomb. Three days after Jesus was crucified (killed on a cross), Christians believe that he rose to life again. This is called the resurrection, and Easter is the time when we especially celebrate it.
This means that Easter lasts for fifty days, ending at the feast of Pentecost when we remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples in Jerusalem. There is also a special celebration forty days into Easter called the Ascension, when we recall how the disciples no longer saw Jesus on earth and watched him taken from their sight into heaven.
If you visit St Augustine’s during the Easter season, you’ll see that the church is decorated in white or gold, and our ministers wear white or gold vestments to reflect the joy and celebration of this season.
