The Great Fifty Days of Easter

Easter Sunday is only the beginning!

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A great fifty-day feast (known as “Eastertide,” “Easter Season,” or “Easter Time,” as well as “Paschaltide,” “Paschal Season,” or “Paschal Time”) kicks off on Easter Day. In the Church Year, this is quite literally fifty days of feasting.

Easter is the high point of the Church Year. So it makes sense that we would party for so long. After all, the main point of the whole gospel is to prepare us for an eternal celebration and feast.

This is reflected in the fact that our Lenten fast only lasts forty days (not including Sundays), while Easter is fifty days. Fasting will pass away, as Jesus said, but the Great Feast of the Lamb will last for ages of ages (a Hebrew into Greek idiom for eternity!).

So let the feasting begin!

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What is the “Greeting” for Easter Season?

We say “Merry Christmas!” or “Happy Christmas!” but what about Easter? Does it have a greeting?

Yes, there is an ancient and universal greeting of celebration for Easter:

Greeting: Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Response: The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

This is called the Paschal Greeting, or the Easter Acclamation. One of the reasons that we don’t say “Alleluia” in Lent is so that the impact of this acclamation will be that much greater.

So: Alleluia! Christ is risen!

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(courtesy of Anglican Compass)