Easter Sunday

Submitted by edg on Thu, 5 Sep '19 8.16am
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Painting Easter eggs
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Cottonbro Studio, Pexels
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Easter Sunday is the most important Christian festival in the year, marking the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the third day after his death on the cross on Good Friday. Good Friday is a public holiday and there is also a local Edinburgh holiday on Easter Monday.

Easter is marked on the first Sunday after the Vernal (spring) Equinox Full Moon. When the Full Moon falls on a Sunday then Easter takes place on the next Sunday. This means that the date for Easter shifts from year to year. It can take place as early as 22 March or as late as 25 April.

Non-Christians and Christians celebrate Easter's "moveable feast" by eating chocolate, especially chocolate eggs. This tradition originates from the Christian tradition of abstinence during the prior 40 days of Lent, and earlier pagan celebrations marking Spring with painted hens and duck eggs.

Eggs are a pagan symbol of fertility, as are bunnies, that have remained a part of Easter celebrations to the modern day.

If you are looking to celebrate Good Friday there are many Edinburgh Churches to choose from.

The Edinburgh Science Festival also takes place at this time and often has debates and discussions around faith-based viewpoints versus more rational or scientific outlooks on life.

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