What Easter is
Easter is the greatest feast of the Christian year — the Resurrection of the Lord from the dead, the victory over sin and death on which the whole faith rests. It is not a single Sunday but a season of fifty days, a ‘week of weeks’ running from Easter Sunday to Pentecost, kept as one continuous festival of joy in white and gold.
The Alleluia, silent through all of Lent, returns at the Easter Vigil and rings through the whole season. On the fortieth day the Church keeps the Ascension of the Lord (in many countries transferred to the following Sunday), and on the fiftieth, Pentecost — the descent of the Holy Spirit, the birthday of the Church, which brings the great fifty days to their close.
The chant of Easter
The song of the season is Regina Cæli — ‘Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia’ — the Marian antiphon that replaces the Angelus throughout Eastertide, sung standing, for one does not kneel in Paschal joy. The Te Deum, the Church’s great hymn of thanksgiving, belongs here too.
At the season’s summit stands Veni Sancte Spiritus, the ‘Golden Sequence’ sung at the Mass of Pentecost — the cry of the Church for the Spirit who was poured out upon the apostles and is poured out still.
How to keep it
Keep all fifty days, not only Easter Sunday. Where Lent asked for fasting, Eastertide asks for feasting and joy; the Paschal candle burns through the season, the Regina Cæli replaces the Angelus, and the Alleluia is never far from the lips. Easter is the one celebration the Church cannot make too long.
When it falls
The dates shift each year with the date of Easter.
Last reviewed for accuracy on , against the Douay-Rheims Bible and the Church's own documents.