Happy Thursday evening from my home to yours. I do hope this blog finds you well and safe.

I thought tonight I’d talk about Easter. In fact, I was thinking it would be nice to talk a little bit about Easter over the course of the next few days, after all, Easter will be here in 3 more days.

If your a religious person, or Christian, you probably celebrate Easter and you probably have an understanding of what the origin of Easter is, and that’s awesome. Seeing that we are so close to Easter though, I thought it might be good to refresh our minds behind the meaning of Easter and exactly what it is. Who knows, maybe we’ll learn something new about this much celebrated holiday.

I was scrolling google today to get a little more insight on Easter and this is what I found. On christmascentral.com it says, “like Christmas, Easter has roots in both Christianity and ancient pagan culture. Though it is mostly considered a religious holiday, many of our modern traditions are rooted in pre-Christian practices.”

Most religions do celebrate Easter. Some religions began the prelude to Easter Sunday back on Ash Wednesday, which happened to fall on Valentines Day this year. What is Ash Wednesday? Well, it’s the day when priests and pastors rub ashes from the prior year’s Palm Sunday palms on the foreheads of those in attendance at their churches.

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent in which people are encouraged to find their own method of confronting their sins. They are encouraged to remember their own mortality, along with giving thanks for the salvation by means of Jesus Christ who gave his life and died upon the cross. People are reminded that Jesus died for our sins, then was resurrected back into the heavenly realm to sit beside his father.

During Lent, many people choose to give something up for 40 days. I knew someone in school back in the day who gave up soda, another gave up meat and I’ve heard of people giving up sex. Generally folks give up something they really love. This helps hopefully helps them by switching focus off self and onto the reason for Lent and the sacrifice made by Christ for all of our sins.

Lent ends during Holly Week, which begins with Palm Sunday. This signifies when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem and was greeted by palm branches. Just a couple of days later, is Holy Wednesday. Holy Wednesday recognizes Judas Iscariot with his plot of betrayal of our savior, but that’s not all, the next day is Holy Thursday, which represents the anniversary of the Last Supper to be followed by Good Friday, the day set aside to observe the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

All of these days or events that are observed, they are days to reflect on the days and weeks leading up to Jesus not only dying for us, but being resurrected. Easter is the day we celebrate Jesus being raised from the tomb. Easter also ends Lent for those who practice that custom.

I was told, Easter is mentioned in the Bible, however, I never saw it until tonight. In the King James Bible, in the book of Acts, chapter 12, verse 4 it reads: And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring.

Other versions use Passover instead of Easter, but I did find it interesting to see the word Easter actually mentioned in scripture.

So as far as Easter is concerned, where did it come from? Well, according to the same article in christmascentral.com, it says, “Easter actually originated as an ancient pagan celebration of the spring equinox. In Christianity, the day was dedicated to observing the resurrection of Jesus, which was celebrated around the time of the Jewish Passover. Eventually, early Christians merged their ceremonies with Jewish customs, thereby, recognizing Easter as “resurrection day.”

I suppose some of us look to Easter as a very important holiday, especially those of us who believe in the story of Jesus and the days leading up to his death and resurrection. For others, perhaps Easter is celebrated because of the joy of having family gather and enjoying the traditions that come along with Easter.

I’m not a religious person, not anymore, but I have found a new way of being close to God and that’s by becoming spiritual. I celebrate Easter and I do think about Christ and what he did for me. I know he died a horrific death and he died, not only for me, but for all of mankind. When I reflect on the gift Jesus gave to us by sacrificing his life, I want to reflect on it and how it’s benefited me and my loved ones.

I think we all sometimes get so wrapped up in the traditons, we forget the meaning behind certain things. In this case, it’s possible that we could get so caught up in the tradition, we fail to remember the reason.

“The very first Easter taught us this: that life never ends and love never dies.”-Kate Mc Gahan.

On that note, I’ll be saying goodbye for tonight, but be on the look out tomorrow. I can hardly wait to find out the origin of the Easter Bunny and the hiding and decorating of the Easter Eggs.

Are you curious too, well come on back and we’ll learn together, better yet, subscribe to my blog so you never miss an upload.

Hope you’ll come back and join me as I share what I learn about those two fun Easter traditions.

Until next time, open your hearts, listen and evolve today++