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Eastertide, or the Easter Season, or Paschal Time, is the period of fifty days from Easter
Easter

Easter is the most important religious feast in the Christianity liturgical year.Christians believe that Jesus was Resurrection of Jesus from the dead three days after his Crucifixion of Jesus, and celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday , two days after Good Friday....
 Sunday to Pentecost
Pentecost

Pentecost is one of the prominent feasts in the Christianity liturgical year, celebrated the 49th day after Easter Sunday?or the 50th day, inclusively, whence its name is derived from the Greek....
 Sunday.

It is celebrated as a single joyful feast, indeed as the "great Lord's Day". Each Sunday of the season is treated as a Sunday of Easter, and, after the Sunday of the Resurrection, they are named Second Sunday of Easter, Third Sunday of Easter, etc. up to the Seventh Sunday of Easter, while the whole fifty-day period concludes with Pentecost Sunday.

Easter Sunday and Pentecost correspond to pre-existing Jewish feasts.

The first eight days constitute the Octave
Octave (liturgical)

"Octave" has two senses in Christian liturgical usage. In the first sense, it is the eighth day after a feast, reckoning inclusively, and so always falls on the same day of the week as the feast itself....
 of Easter and are celebrated as solemnities
Solemnity

A Solemnity of the Roman Catholic Church is a principal holy day in the liturgical calendar, usually commemorating an event in the life of Jesus, his mother Blessed Virgin Mary, or other important saints....
 of the Lord.

Since 2000 the Second Sunday of Easter is also called Divine Mercy Sunday
Divine Mercy Sunday

The Feast of the Divine Mercy or Divine Mercy Sunday falls on the Octave of Easter . It is dedicated to the devotion to the Divine Mercy promoted by Mary Faustina Kowalska, and is based upon an entry in St....
.






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Eastertide, or the Easter Season, or Paschal Time, is the period of fifty days from Easter
Easter

Easter is the most important religious feast in the Christianity liturgical year.Christians believe that Jesus was Resurrection of Jesus from the dead three days after his Crucifixion of Jesus, and celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday , two days after Good Friday....
 Sunday to Pentecost
Pentecost

Pentecost is one of the prominent feasts in the Christianity liturgical year, celebrated the 49th day after Easter Sunday?or the 50th day, inclusively, whence its name is derived from the Greek....
 Sunday.

It is celebrated as a single joyful feast, indeed as the "great Lord's Day". Each Sunday of the season is treated as a Sunday of Easter, and, after the Sunday of the Resurrection, they are named Second Sunday of Easter, Third Sunday of Easter, etc. up to the Seventh Sunday of Easter, while the whole fifty-day period concludes with Pentecost Sunday.

Easter Sunday and Pentecost correspond to pre-existing Jewish feasts.

The first eight days constitute the Octave
Octave (liturgical)

"Octave" has two senses in Christian liturgical usage. In the first sense, it is the eighth day after a feast, reckoning inclusively, and so always falls on the same day of the week as the feast itself....
 of Easter and are celebrated as solemnities
Solemnity

A Solemnity of the Roman Catholic Church is a principal holy day in the liturgical calendar, usually commemorating an event in the life of Jesus, his mother Blessed Virgin Mary, or other important saints....
 of the Lord.

Since 2000 the Second Sunday of Easter is also called Divine Mercy Sunday
Divine Mercy Sunday

The Feast of the Divine Mercy or Divine Mercy Sunday falls on the Octave of Easter . It is dedicated to the devotion to the Divine Mercy promoted by Mary Faustina Kowalska, and is based upon an entry in St....
. The name "Low Sunday" for this Sunday, once common in English, is now rarely used.

The solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is celebrated on the fortieth day of Eastertide (a Thursday), except in countries where it is not a Holy Day of Obligation
Holy Day of Obligation

In the Roman Catholic Church, Holy Days of Obligation or Holidays of Obligation, less commonly called Feasts of Precept, are the days on which, as of the Code of Canon law states,Eastern Catholic Churches...
. In such countries it is celebrated on the following Sunday (the forty-third day of Eastertide). The days from that feast until the Saturday before Pentecost (inclusive) are days of preparation for the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit

In Christianity, the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is the spirit of God. The term Christ , is also used to refer to this presence. That is, the Spirit is considered to act in concert with and share an essential nature with God the Father and God the Son ....
 the Paraclete.

Before the 1969 revision of the calendar, the Sundays were called First Sunday after Easter, Second Sunday after Easter, etc. The Sunday preceding the feast of the Ascension of the Lord was sometimes, though not officially, called Rogation Sunday, and when the Ascension had an octave, the following Sunday was called Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension, but when this octave was abolished in 1955, it was called Sunday after the Ascension. Pentecost was followed by an octave, which some reckoned as part of Eastertide.

When the Anglican churches implemented their own calendar reform in 1976, they adopted the same shortened definition of the Easter season as the Roman Catholic Church had promulgated six years earlier. In the Church of England
Church of England

The Church of England is the State religion Christianity Ecclesia in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches....
, the Easter season begins with the Easter Vigil
Easter Vigil

The Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil or the Great Vigil of Easter, is a service held in many Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus....
 and ends after Evening Prayer
Evening Prayer (Anglican)

Evening Prayer is a liturgy in use in the Anglican Communion and celebrated in the late afternoon or evening. It is also commonly known as Evensong, especially when the office is rendered choir ....
 (or Night Prayer
Compline

Compline is the final church service of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours. The English word Compline is derived from the Latin completorium, as Compline is the completion of the working day....
) on the Day of Pentecost. Some Anglican provinces
Ecclesiastical Province

An ecclesiastical province is a large jurisdiction of religious government, so named by analogy with a secular province, existing in certain hierarchical Christian Christian Church, especially in the Catholic Church and Orthodox Church Churches and in the Anglican Communion....
 continue to label the Sundays between Easter and the Ascension "Sundays After Easter" rather than "Sundays of Easter"; others, such as the Church of England
Church of England

The Church of England is the State religion Christianity Ecclesia in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches....
 and ECUSA, use the term "Sundays of Easter".

See also

  • Paschal Cycle
    Paschal cycle

    The Paschal cycle in the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, is the cycle of the moveable feasts built around Easter . The cycle consists of approximately ten weeks before and seven weeks after Pascha....
  • Pentecostarion
    Pentecostarion

    The Pentecostarion is the liturgical book used by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite during the Paschal Season which extends from Easter to the Sunday following All Saints Day ....
  • Bright Week
    Bright Week

    Bright Week or Renewal Week is the name used by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite for the period of seven days beginning on Easter and continuing up to the following Sunday, which is known as Thomas Sunday....


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