Easter, which falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the March equinox, celebrates Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead three days after his crucifixion. While primarily a Christian holiday, like Christmas, it has also become a cultural celebration centered around brightly decorated eggs, chocolate, candy, scavenger hunts, baskets, chicks, and rabbits.
While the following day, Easter Monday, which is also known as “Bright Monday” or “Renewal Monday,” is a public holiday throughout most of the world, however, it is not the case in the United States. It was a public holiday in North Carolina from 1935 to 1987. Many public schools and universities are closed on Easter Monday, and often Good Friday as well, falling under the umbrella of spring break.
Easter Monday is a public holiday in 116 nations throughout the world, including Australia, Austria, Germany, Egypt, Ireland, United Kingdom, Spain, Ghana, Fiji, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Kenya, Poland, Russia, and South Africa. However, not all observations are directly centered around the Christian tradition. In Ireland, it is a day of remembrance for the people who died during the Easter Rising or Rebellion in 1916. In Egypt, the ancient festival of Sham El Nessim, which means “smelling of the breeze,” falls on the same day, marking the beginning of spring.
Some nations even recognize Easter Tuesday, including Cyprus, as a national bank holiday; New Zealand allows a mandatory holiday in the public education sector, and the Australian island state of Tasmania recognizes a legal holiday for some workers.
Easter is a religious holiday derived from two ancient traditions: one Judeo-Christian and the other Pagan. Both Christians and Pagans have celebrated death and resurrection themes following the spring equinox for millennia. Most religious historians believe that many elements of the Christian observance of Easter were derived from earlier Pagan celebrations.
In Christian religion, Good Friday is observed in remembrance of Jesus’s execution by the occupying Roman army, and his burial in a cave-tomb. Easter Sunday is the date when a group of his female followers first noticed the empty tomb and concluded that he had been resurrected.
Other countries around the world, however, do acknowledge the holiday, and even though it is not a federal holiday in the U.S., the White House traditionally hosts its annual Easter egg roll and other celebrations for Easter on the Monday following the holiday.
Easter is not a federal holiday due to the fact that it always falls on a Sunday, which is a non-working day for federal and state employees. Many companies which are normally open on Sunday close for Easter.
Again, Good Friday and Easter Monday are not Federal Holidays. All federal holidays are non-religious other than Christmas Day.
On a local level, the day is informally observed in some areas such as the state of North Dakota, and some cities in New York, Michigan, and Indiana.
Good Friday is a state holiday in 10 states-Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky (half-day), Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas. It is an optional holiday in Texas.
Good Friday is an important Christian holiday celebrated two days before Easter Sunday, commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus. However, it is not a federal holiday in the United States. That means post offices and most governmental offices will be open.
In the United States, a federal holiday is one that is recognized by Congress and is designated in Title V of the U.S. Code 6103 – Holidays, which allows Congress the authority to create holidays for federal institutions.
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 6103(b), if a holiday falls on a Sunday, for most Federal employees, the following Monday will be treated as a holiday for pay and leave purposes.
Easter Monday is a holiday in many English-speaking countries, including England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Australia, and European counties. The tradition of having a holiday on the day after Easter Sunday was brought to Canada by European immigrants.
The earliest recorded observance of an Easter celebration comes from the 2nd century, though the commemoration of Jesus’s Resurrection probably occurred earlier.
Easter, supposed to be the date that Jesus died and then arose from the dead, but has no fixed date. Easter is religious and is set as the “first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox”.
The most common date for the Western churches’ Easter is April 19th. The earliest Easter can be is March 22nd, and the latest it can fall is April 25th. This year it is April 9th, 2023.
The tradition of setting it by the moon and the spring equinox, instead of a set date in the calendar was a classic religious tradition carried out by the Council of Nicaea in 325 to sort out a problem caused by distinct parts of the Christian world marking Easter on different days.
They set it to be the first Sunday after the first full moon-on or after the vernal or spring equinox.
It was the United Kingdom where this all came to a head, when in the year 664, King Oswiu in the kingdom of Northumbria, brought up on Celtic traditions celebrated Easter on one day, while his wife, who had been brought up in Catholic traditions was celebrating Easter on a different day.
For the King to have an Easter feast while the wife is still marking Lent was somewhat of a problem, and the King decided to sort it out, summoning religious leaders to a Synod, a meeting, to settle the problem.
St. Colman, Bishop of Lindisfarne, put the case for the Celtic tradition, while St. Wilfrid, Bishop of York, put forward the Catholic argument and won. The King switched to the Catholic method of working out when the Easter fell.
Consequently, Easter still wobbles around the calendar. Not all Christian countries follow the Gregorian calendar, which was introduced by Pope Gregory in 1528, and countries that use the older Julian calendar celebrate Easter on a different date, although every few years, the two calendars align and celebrate Easter on the same day. The next time that will happen will be April 20th, 2025.
Historically, 400 years after the Gregorian calendar was introduced, the United Kingdom became interested in settling the Easter date, and on August 3rd, 1928, passed “An Act to regulate the date of Easter Day and days or other periods and occasions depending thereon”, known as the Easter Act.
That did not come out of nowhere since the League of Nations, the precursor to the United Nations, had passed a resolution in 1926 calling for the date of Easter to be sorted out.
Easter would still wobble a bit, but far less than it does today and more usefully would no longer be bound by the vagaries of the moon. The effect of the act would be to establish Easter Sunday as the Sunday following the second Saturday in April, so fixed by the calendar, not the moon, and resulting in Easter Sunday being between April 9th and April 15th. The act of law has Royal Assent but has never been enforced, as it requires both Houses of Parliament to pass resolutions agreeing on when to start enforcing the law.
Eggs represent new life and rebirth, and it is believed that this ancient custom became a part of Easter celebrations. In the medieval period, eating eggs was forbidden during Lent, i.e., the 40 days before Easter, therefore on Easter Sunday, indulging in an egg was a real treat!
According to Discovery News, since ancient times, eggs and rabbits have been a symbol of fertility, while spring has been a symbol of rebirth. Even though rabbits do not lay eggs, the association of these symbols was almost natural.
In Germany in the 1700’s, children would build nests, and leave carrots out for the “Osterhase” or “Oschter Haws”, i.e., the Easter bunny. Legend has it that the Easter Bunny lays, decorates and hides eggs for good children, as they are also a symbol of new life.
According to some sources, the Easter bunny first arrived in America in the 1700’s with German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania and transported their tradition of an egg-laying hare. Their children made nests in which this creature could lay its colored eggs.
The foregoing is just a brief and general legal and historical overview of Easter.
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