Easter is widely celebrated by many families to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but many other things have been added to the special holiday.

The easter bunny hopping into your house to drop off a basket filled with chocolates, sweet treats, and fun little things. Easter egg hunts, who can find the golden egg with the big prize inside!? Families gather at the table to dye easter eggs to lay out for the Easter bunny, along with carrot sticks. Gathering for family dinners at grandmas and grandpas house to celebrate. Behind all of the fun, people find themselves losing the meaningful reason behind Easter.

Easter commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. Jesus had been crucified on a Friday and rose from the dead on the following Sunday. For Christians, the resurrection of Jesus is a foundation of their faith.

The bible book of Acts records the words of Peter, one of Jesus’ closest followers and an eyewitness to his resurrection. He tells a crowd: “You handed him over to be killed and you disowned him before Pilate… You killed the author of life, but god raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.”

Because the resurrection took place on a Sunday, the first Christians soon adopted Sunday as the day of the week when they would gather together to pray and worship god.

Although it did take Easter Sunday longer to emerge as an annual day to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.

Many Christians around the world in different countries celebrate Easter at different times and on different days.

Churches use Easter Day to praise God for raising Jesus from the dead and to remember Christian martyrs, believers who had been put to death rather than give up their faith. In some traditions, it was also the day new converts to Christianity were baptised and were usually dressed in white.

Although the birthday of Jesus is not exactly known, it is commemorated on Christmas Day and, in most Christian traditions, celebrated on the 25th of December. However, orthodox Christians celebrate it on the 7th of January because they have a different calendar.

The resurrection of Jesus was not recorded, and as a result of this, Easter is not fixed, so it can fall anywhere between March 22nd and April 25th. This is because Easter is linked to the Jewish festival of Passover, which was taking place when Jesus died. The timing of Passover depends on the cycle of the moon. In the 4th century, leaders agreed that Easter would always be on the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox.