2. Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year.
According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion.

3. Some Christians celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday, two days after Good Friday and three days after Maundy Thursday.
The chronology of his death and resurrection is variously interpreted to be between AD 26 and 36, traditionally 33.

4. Easter also refers to the season of the church year called the Easter Season.
Traditionally the Easter Season lasted for the forty days from Easter Day until Ascension Day.

5. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week or the Octave of Easter.
The week from Palm Sunday to Easter is known as Holy Week. Easter also marks the end of Lent, a season of fasting, prayer, and penance.

7. Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar.

8. The origin of Easter
As with almost all "Christian" holidays, Easter has a secular side as well.
The dichotomous nature of Easter and its symbols, however, is not necessarily a modern fabrication.
Easter has always had its non-religious side. In fact, Easter was originally a pagan festival. It was co-opted by Christian missionaries starting in the second century CE.

9. Christian missionaries

10. The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre.

11. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they do what Christian missionaries have always done; they attempted to convert them to Christianity.
They did so, however, in a clandestine manner.

12. It would have been dangerous for the very early Christian converts to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed.
To save lives, the missionaries decided to spread their dogma slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.

13. As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ.
It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian observance as pagans were slowly indoctrinated.
The early name, Easter, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.

14. The Date of Easter
Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
In that year, the Council of Nicaea was convened by emperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rule which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox.
Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.

15. Vernal equinox

16. The Lenten Season
Lent is the forty-six day period just prior to Easter Sunday. It begins on Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is a celebration, sometimes called "Carnival," practiced around the world, on the Tuesday prior to Ash Wednesday.

17. It was designed as a way to "get it all out" before the sacrifices of Lent began.
New Orleans is the focal point of Mardi Gras celebrations in the U.S.

18. The Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention. The symbol originated with the pagan festival of Easter. The goddess, Easter, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.

19. The Germans brought the symbol of the Easter rabbit to America.
It was widely ignored by other Christians until shortly after the Civil War.
In fact, Easter itself was not widely celebrated in America until after that time.

20. The Easter Egg
As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter.
The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians.

21. From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of birth in most cultures.
Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.
Today, children hunt colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets along with the modern version of real Easter eggs -- those made of plastic or chocolate candy.

24. Easter Traditions in the USA
It is the tradition of America to conduct special Easter parades, where men and women flaunt their special costumes and colorful bonnets.
The person who leads the parade can be spotted holding Easter candle or cross in his/her hand.

26. In the New Orleans, it is a trend of conducting an annual Easter carnival called 'Mardi Gras', which features lot of fun activities like parade, jazz music bands and a bumper party.

29. A must play Easter game for American kids is Easter egg roll.

30. A special dish for Easter springtime in USA is baked ham, potatoes and vegetables.
Another most demanding recipe is hot cross buns.

31. It was in the early 1700's, when for the first time, eggs were dyed and the credit for starting this practice in America can be attributed to Pennsylvania Dutch (German) settlers.

32. As a part of Easter traditions in the US, sunrise services are held and the prime motive is to include various Christian religious groups in this event.
Painting the Easter eggs and then conducting Easter egg hunt games for the kids is what most American parents do on the Easter week.

33. Thank you for attention!!!