Easter or Pasch is a Christian festival and holiday. According to New Testament, the resurrection of Jesus Christ happened on the third day after his crucifixion at Calvary. Easter is the culmination of the Passion of Christ. It is preceded by a forty-day period of fasting, prayer and penance known as Lent. The last week of Lent is called Holy Week. It consists of the days of the Easter Triduum which includes Maundy Thursday as well as Good Friday. On Maundy Thursday is commemorated Maundy and the Last Supper and on Good Friday is commemorated the crucifixion and death of Jesus. A fifty-day period known as Eastertide or the Easter Season, which ends on Pentecost Sunday, follows Easter. There a variety of different names in English by which the festival is referred to. They include Easter Day, Easter Sunday, Resurrection Day and Resurrection Sunday.
Easter is a moveable feast. It means that it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. The first Sunday after the full moon following the northern hemisphere's vernal equinox was established as the date of Easter by the First Council of Nicaea of the year three hundred and twenty five. As the equinox is reckoned ecclesiastically to be on twenty first March and the "Full Moon" is not necessarily the astronomically correct date, the date of Easter varies between twenty second March and twenty fifth April. The celebration of Easter in Eastern Christianity varies between fourth April and eighth May, as it bases its calculation on the Julian calendar, whose twenty first March corresponds to third April in the Gregorian calendar.
For much of its symbolism and by its position in the calendar, Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover. The words for "Easter" and "Passover" are etymologically related or homonymous in many languages. Although Easter customs differ across the Christian world there are some common motifs like attending sunrise services, exclaiming the Paschal greeting, clipping the church and embellishing Easter eggs which are symbolic of the empty tomb. There are some additional customs like egg hunting, the Easter Bunny and Easter parades which are observed by both Christians and some non-Christians.
Through the Last Supper and crucifixion that preceded the resurrection, happens the linkage of Easter to the Passover and Exodus from Egypt recorded in the Old Testament.