Category:Easter

Eas"ter, n. Etym: [AS. eáster, eástran, paschal feast, Easter; akin to G. ostern; fr. AS. Eástre, a goddess of light or spring, in honor of whom a festival was celebrated in April; whence this month was called in AS. Eásterm. From the root of E. east. See East.]

1. An annual church festival commemorating Christ's Resurrection, and occurring on Sunday, the second day after Good Friday. It corresponds to the pasha or Passover of the Jews, and most nations still give it this name under the various forms of pascha, pasque, pâque, or pask.

See also: The Resurrection Matthew 28:1-15 Mark 16:1-13 Luke 24:1-12 John 20:1-18

2. The day on which the festival is observed; Easter day.

Note: Easter is used either adjectively or as the first element of a compound; as, Easter day or Easter-day, Easter Sunday, Easter week, Easter gifts. Sundays by thee more glorious break, An Easter day in every week. Keble.

Note: Easter day, on which the rest of the movable feasts depend, is always the first Sunday after the fourteenth day of the calendar moon which (fourteenth day) falls on, or next after, the 21st of March, according to the rules laid down for the construction of the calendar; so that if the fourteenth day happen on a Sunday, Easter day is the Sunday after. Eng. Cyc. Easter dues (Ch. of Eng.), money due to the clergy at Easter, formerly paid in communication of the tithe for personal labor and subject to exaction. For Easter dues, Easter offerings, voluntary gifts, have been substituted. -- Easter egg. (a) A painted or colored egg used as a present at Easter. (b) An imitation of an egg, in sugar or some fine material, sometimes made to serve as a box for jewelry or the like, used as an Easter present.

easter East"er, v. i. (Naut.)

Defn: To veer to the east; -- said of the wind. Russell.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Easter - Originally a Saxon word (Eostre), denoting a goddess of the Saxons, in honor of whom sacrifices were offered about the time of the Passover. Hence the name came to be given to the festival of the Resurrection of Christ, which occurred at the time of the Passover. In the early English versions this word was frequently used as the translation of the Greek pascha (the Passover). When the Authorized Version (1611) was formed, the word "passover" was used in all passages in which this word pascha occurred, except in Acts 12:4. In the Revised Version the proper word, "passover," is always used.