Good Friday

From good (“holy”); compare good tide to refer to Christmas or Shrovetide (e.g. Goodtyde and Gudtyde in some British dialects), Good Wednesday, and the Good Book to refer to the Bible. Earlier called Old English Langa-Friġedæġ (“Long Friday”).

inh

But Good Friday soon restored to lord Nelville all those religious emotions, the want of which he so much regretted on the preceding days.

1807, [Germaine] de Staël Holstein, translated by D[ennis] Lawler, “[Book X. Holy week.] Chap[ter] IV.”, in Corinna; or, Italy. […], volume III, London: […] Corri, […]; and sold by Colburn, […], and Mackenzie, […], →OCLC, page 43:

(Christianity) The Friday before Easter Sunday, the commemoration of the day on which Christ was crucified.

성금요일

used predominantly in the Roman Catholic church


Easter Sunday

(Christianity) Easter Day, a Christian religious moveable holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.


resurrection

en-noun

resurrection (countable and uncountable, plural resurrections)

/ɹɛzəˈɹɛkʃən/

/ɹɛzəˈɹɛkʃn̩/

From Anglo-Norman resurrectiun, from Old French resurrection (French: résurrection), from Late Latin resurrectionem (accusative of resurrectiō) from Latin resurgō (“I rise again”), from re- (“again”), + surgō (“I rise”). Displaced native Old English ǣrist.

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 20:5–6:

(Christianity, Islam, Judaism) The general resurrection.


Maundy Thursday

From Middle English Maunde Þursday (“Holy Thursday”), equivalent to maundy + Thursday. Middle English maundy derives from Old French mandé, from Latin mandātum, in reference to the phrase mandātum novum dō vōbīs (“a new commandment I give unto you”).

inh

The dialect name for Maundy Thursday, Grie(ner)-Durmerschdawg (Green Thursday, literally), is in very large part responsible for the basic lore that attaches to this day: One must eat something green on this day.[…]Failure to eat something green on Maundy Thursday had dire consequences, according to the folk mind: One would get the itch, one would become lousy, or as a York County informant put it, "Mer iss s gans yawr uff em aisel." (One will be a mule all year long.)

1960, Alfred Lewis Shoemaker, Eastertide in Pennsylvania: A Folk-Cultural Study, published 2000, page 13:

It is the tradition among Christians in Africa on Maundy Thursday that, before the sacrament of Holy Communion is served, worshipers move about the sanctuary and seek forgiveness from everyone they have hurt or offended or sinned against — known or unknown — in recent months.

2002, Steven Molin, Journey Of Stones: A Sermon Series For Lent And Easter, page 47:

Most Presbyterian churches have an evening service on Maundy Thursday that includes the celebration of the Lord's Supper.

2011, Donald K. McKim, More Presbyterian Questions, More Presbyterian Answers: Exploring Christian Faith, page 42:

The Thursday before Easter, which commemorates the Last Supper.


Easter Monday

The Monday after Easter Sunday; a bank holiday in Britain and a holiday in many other places.


Palm Sunday

From the palm fronds supposedly laid before Jesus during his entrance to Jerusalem preceding his crucifixion. Originally Old English Palmsunnandæg or palm-sunnandæg. The current spelling dates to the 17th century.

The sixth Sunday in Lent, the Sunday before Easter.

ܥܹܐܕܵܐ ܕܐܘܿܫܲܥܢܹ̈ܐ

ʿēdā d-ošaʿnē


Easter egg

/ˈiː.stəɹ ˌɛɡ/

Adventure (1980 video game)#Easter_egg
Easter egg

From Easter + egg. Cognate with German Low German Ooosterei (“Easter egg”), Middle High German ōsterei ("Easter egg"; > modern German Osterei). So called because eggs would be eaten during Easter to break the fasting during Lent. (No eggs, dairy, meat except fish, lard, or foods containing these ingredients could be eaten during Lent.) The computing sense is from the early 1980s, popularized by the video game Adventure.

gloss

"Easter egg"; > modern German <i class="Latn mention" lang="de">Osterei</i>

Because eggs were inexpensive in most regions, the practice of decorating Easter eggs crossed all social classes and remained somewhat simple.

2009, Ace Collins, chapter 23, in Stories Behind the Traditions and Songs of Easter:

A dyed or decorated egg, traditionally associated with Easter and, in the Western European tradition, sometimes hidden for children to find.


Easter Bunny

From Easter + bunny, calque of German Osterhase (literally “Easter hare”).

calque

An Easter Bunny Party

1905 April 13, Mary Dawson, “An Easter Bunny Party”, in Good Housekeeping, volume 40, page 461:

One day the old Easter Bunny looked out of his winter covert and Said to his Bunny-wife, who was busy coloring Easter eggs, “It is high time we set out to look for the Easter Lily.”

1915 April 1, The Christian Advocate, volume 90, page 438:

Soon I ran into two Easter Bunnies who gave me candy. Honest! All right, it was really two women wearing pink bunny hoods.

2005, Danie Martin, Always Another Mountain: A Woman Hiking the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain to Mount Katahdin, Virtualbookworm Publishing, →ISBN, page 35:

Yeah, remember? We’re Spies, we deal in fact, not chasing after Easter Bunnies.
Yeah, right. Wait the Easter Bunny’s missing? A-ha-ha! Just kidding, guys! I know the Easter Bunny is tucked away safe in his little toadstool house up in the fjords of British Columbia.

2006 March 16, Bryan Thompson, “I Want My Mummy”, in Totally Spies!, season 2, episode 2, spoken by Alexandra “Alex” (Jennifer Hale as Samantha “Sam” and Katie Leigh), Marathon Media, via Teletoon:

Easter Bunnies can be booked for businesses (such as Malls), for churches, for community Easter Egg Hunts or even as a preferred birthday party costume character for a birthday that falls close to Easter.

2014, Margy Johnson, Start Your Own Costume Character Business & Make Great Money Working at Home, Xlibris, →ISBN, page 73:

Some residents rotated decorations seasonally by displaying holiday wreaths in the winter and plastic Easter Bunnies and pinwheels in the spring.

2016, Kimberley Kinder, DIY Detroit: Making Do in a City without Services, University of Minnesota Press, →ISBN:

Two costumed Easter Bunnies, handing out plastic, candy-filled eggs and hugging children, hopped in our ranks.

2016, Richard J. Gonzales, “Conclusion”, in Raza Rising: Chicanos in North Texas, University of North Texas Press, →ISBN, page 287:

A symbolic rabbit sometimes depicted delivering Easter eggs to children.

Osterhaas

Symbolic rabbit sometimes depicted delivering Easter eggs to children


Easter egg hunt

en-noun

Easter egg hunt (plural Easter egg hunts)

I was a little chunky anyway, and slow, so slow that I was once the only kid at an Easter egg hunt who didn’t get a single egg, not because I couldn’t find them but because I couldn’t get to them fast enough.

A common festive activity held at Easter, where Easter eggs are hidden outdoors (or indoors during inclement weather) for children to run around and seek; this may also be a contest to see who can collect the most eggs.

caça dels ous de Pasqua

activity held at Easter where hidden Easter eggs have to be found


Lent

Shortened form of Lenten, from Old English lencten, from Proto-West Germanic *langatīn (“spring”), as in a season into which days lengthen as it progresses. Related to German Lenz and Dutch lente (“springtime”).

الصَّوْم الْأَرْبَعِينِيّ

Christian period of penitence before Easter

(Christianity) A period of the ecclesiastical year preceding Easter, traditionally involving temporary abstention from certain foods and pleasures.

(Eastern Christianity) The 40 days preceding Lazarus Saturday, the Saturday preceding Holy Week.

(Roman Catholicism) The 46 days preceding Easter, reckoned as 40 days by excluding Sundays.

Hezekiah gave up vaping for Lent.


paska

en-noun

paska (countable and uncountable, plural paskas)

From Ukrainian па́ска (páska) and Russian па́ска (páska), borrowing from Ancient Greek πάσκα (páska), phonetic variant of πάσχα (páskha), from Aramaic פסחא (pasḥa), from Hebrew פֶּסַח (pesaḥ). Doublet of Pesach.

(Canada) A traditional Ukrainian egg bread, often decorated, used in Easter traditions.


Ascension Day

The fortieth day of Easter, that is the Thursday 39 days after Easter.


Holy Saturday

The Saturday immediately after Good Friday and before Easter.

Stille Zaterdag

the Saturday immediately after Good Friday


pace egg

A hard-boiled coloured egg traditionally made at Easter, often given to relatives and friends as a token of goodwill. It was traditional to jarp with the eggs before eating them.

County Durham website dedicated to preservation of dialect terms


pysanka

Borrowed from Ukrainian пи́санка (pýsanka), from писа́ти (pysáty, “to write”), referring to writing on an egg with a stylus in a wax-resist dyeing process, from Proto-Slavic *pьsati, related to *pьstrъ (“feathered”), + feminine ending -ка (-ka).

A hand-decorated Ukrainian Easter egg with intricate designs.

пі́санка

Easter egg decorated with intricate designs


pastiera

Borrowed from Italian, from pasta (“pasta, dough”).

A Neapolitan tart made from wheat, eggs, and ricotta, traditionally eaten at Easter.


Holy Thursday

From Middle English Holy Thursday, holy Thurysday, hooly þursday, haly þorsday, Hallʒhe Þurrsdaʒʒ, equivalent to holy + Thursday.

(Christianity) Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter


Pascha

Pascha (countable and uncountable, plural Paschas)

From Latin pascha (“Passover”), from Ancient Greek πάσχα (páskha, “Passover”), from Aramaic פַּסְחָא (paskha), from Hebrew פֶּסַח (pésakh). Doublet of Pasch, paskha, and Pesach.

crucifixional Pascha

Ancient Greek: πάσχα σταυρώσιμον

crucifixional pascha

Ancient Greek: πάσχα σταυρώσιμον

resurrectional Pascha

Ancient Greek: πάσχα ἀναστάσιμον

resurrectional pascha

Ancient Greek: πάσχα ἀναστάσιμον

Easter, the most important Christian religious holy day or feast.

Orthodox Christian church services during the week succeeding Easter.


Pascha

In the Orthodox Christian church, Pascha week is the week succeeding Easter.

(attributive) Pertaining to either Passover or Easter (Pascha is an ambiguous term and its meaning depends on context).


Spy Wednesday

From the idea that Judas Iscariot was spying on Jesus before betraying him. The Middle Irish equivalent, Cédaín in Braith ["Wednesday of Betrayal" or "Spy Wednesday"], is attested in the 15th-century Leabhar Breac.

CATHEDRAL. Spy-Wednesday—Evening Office of Tenebrae, at 5½ o'clock.

1844 March 30, “Order of Service in Holy Week.”, in Bengal Catholic Herald, Vol.VI No.13 p.174:

On Spy Wednesday 1916 Thomas McDonagh gave B Company, 2nd Battalion, Irish Volunteers a pep talk.

1974 January 23, Seamus de Burca, "Peadar Kearney (1883–1942)" Dublin Historical Record (Old Dublin Society) Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 42–56 : 49


Holy Wednesday

The Wednesday of Holy Week; the day before Maundy Thursday.


Ascension

(Christianity, specifically) The believed entry of Jesus Christ into heaven after his resurrection.

(Christianity) A holiday celebrating the Ascension of Jesus, 40 days after Easter.

For a relatively unpromising scrap of land – 88 square kilometres of infertile shore and mountain – Ascension attracted a lot of interest.

2023, Martin MacInnes, In Ascension, Atlantic Books, page 453:

Ascension Island
Ascension Island#English


paschal candle

(Christianity) A large symbolic white candle used at Easter.


Paschal troparion

en-noun

Paschal troparion (plural Paschal troparia)

(Christianity) In the Eastern Orthodox church, a traditional hymn sung at Easter (Pascha)


Great Lent

A calque from a language with traditional Orthodox practice, where this fast is called "great" to distinguish it from the Advent and Dormition fasts, likely Calque of Byzantine Greek Μεγάλη Νηστεία (Megálē Nēsteía).

calque

Μεγάλη Νηστεία

Eastern Christianity
Eastern Christianity

(Christianity) In Eastern Christianity, the period of fasting before Pascha.

Մեծ Պահք (Mec Pahkʻ, literally “Great Fast”)


Paschal

From Latin paschālis; ultimately from Hebrew פסח (pésakh). Doublet of Pascal and pascal.


Eastery

en-adj

Eastery (comparative more Eastery, superlative most Eastery)

more Eastery (comparative)
most Eastery (superlative)


Easter egg roll

en-noun

Easter egg roll (plural Easter egg rolls)

A competition, held at Easter, in which an egg is pushed along a lawn.


white Easter

An Easter Sunday on which there is a ground covering of snow or snowfall.


Lenten fare

(Christianity) Food that is fit to be consumed during Lent (in other words, food that does not contain meat).


egg rolling

A traditional Easter game in which decorated eggs "race" by being rolled downhill or pushed along the ground.


Radonitsa

From Russian Ра́доница (Rádonica), literally "Day of Rejoicing". See also Russian рад (rad, “joyful”).

In the Russian Orthodox Church, a commemoration of the departed observed on the second Tuesday or second Monday of Pascha (Easter).


Rouketopolemos

Greek Рουκετοπόλεμος (Рouketopólemos, literally “rocket war”)

bor

Рουκετοπόλεμος

A traditional Easter event in the town of Vrontados (Βροντάδος) on the Greek island of Chios, in which rival church congregations fire large numbers of home-made rockets across town, attempting to hit each other's bell towers.