Easter

What it is

Easter is the Resurrection of the Lord—the feast of feasts—and Eastertide, the fifty days from Easter Sunday to PentecostGlossaryThe feast of the Holy Spirit's descent—and the close of Eastertide—fifty days after the Resurrection.. The Church keeps a solemn octaveGlossaryAn eight-day liturgical celebration of a great feast, prolonging its joy and mystery through the following week.; the Alleluia returns; white (and gold) proclaim the victory. Every Sunday is a little Easter; this season is Easter dilated across weeks.

What it is not

Easter is not only a single brunch. It is not the end of Christianity's "sad part" so we can get back to normal—Ordinary TimeGlossaryThe green seasons of the liturgical year outside Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter—ordered growth in the mystery of Christ. follows Pentecost, but the Resurrection remains the axis. It is not interchangeable with spring sentimentality.

How a Catholic encounters it

Keep the Vigil or the MassGlossaryThe Church's central act of worship—the Sacrifice of Calvary made present, and the sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood. of Easter Day. Sing Victimae Paschali and the Alleluia without irony. Stay in the joy through the octave and the following Sundays. Mystagogy belongs here: the newly baptized (and the rest of us) learn what the font and the altar meant.