For many of the area’s Hispanic immigrants, Easter is more than a one-day event or even one Holy Week. In Hispanic cultures, many Christians observe Semana Santa, which is a combination of Holy Week, which runs from Palm Sunday to Easter, and Pascua, which begins on Resurrection Sunday (Easter) and runs through the following Saturday. “It is big, big for us,” said Antonio Garcia, Hispanic Ministries coordinator for the Basilica of St. Lawrence.

For many immigrants, it’s not uncommon for them to reenact the Passion Play, a dramatic recreation of the suffering and death of Christ. The Passion Plays often begin with the Last Supper, proceed through Jesus’ betrayal and judgment, continue through the 12 Stations of the Cross, his crucifixion and, finally, his resurrection. “For us it’s very important to celebrate it because first of all it identifies us as Hispanics,” Garcia said. “Within the Hispanic community there is a lot of devotion and piety. (Reenacting the Passion is) a way not to let (our culture) die off even though we’re in another country.”

While the celebration of Easter centers on the same events, cultures around the world celebrate the death, burial and resurrection in varying ways and even on varying days.

East vs. West
Perhaps the biggest difference between Eastern and Western observations of Easter is the day Easter is celebrated. Western Christians typically celebrate Easter on the day designated by the Gregorian calendar.

Ecclesiastical rules dictate Easter fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, which is always March 21. This means Easter for the Western Church, which includes Protestants and Roman Catholics, can never come earlier than March 22 or later than April 25.

Eastern, or Orthodox, Christian churches base the date of Easter on the much older Julian Calendar. The original formula for computing the date of Easter — Pascha as it is known in Orthodox churches — requires the holy day fall after the Jewish observance of Passover, which this year ends April 20.

“The early Christian church had seven councils in order to work on different things that came up during the early parts of Christianity,” said the Rev. Onouphry Keith of St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church of Fletcher. “In that seventh council, they made a canon that the calendar was not to be changed. When the Roman Church changed the calendar, they just moved away from the Orthodox Church.”

Western and Eastern Easters can fall as many as 13 days apart but occasionally fall on the same date. Orthodox Easter falls on April 27 this year.

Greece and Russia
Whereas many Western churches celebrate Easter with sunrise services, Eastern, especially Russian, churches traditionally begin their Easter services on Saturday for an all-night Easter vigil. During the service the priest will close the doors to the inner sanctuary to signify that Christ is dead and the way to God is closed, but at midnight the priest throws open the doors and proclaims that Christ is risen.

Another Russian Easter tradition is that of the red Easter eggs. The eggs are dyed red to symbolize the blood of Christ. The eggs are cracked with nails to remind believers of Christ’s death but as the egg whites are exposed they are reminded that the blood of Christ cleansed them of their sins.

In Greece, it’s popular for families to feast on lamb on Easter. Often communities will barbecue lambs together in a public place. The popularity of lamb undoubtedly comes from its association with Christ as the “Lamb of God.”

During the midnight Easter service all the lights in the church are extinguished and the priest emerges from behind a closed door carrying a single lighted candle. He lights the candle of someone in the front row and then the light is passed from candle to candle as each person receives the light of the resurrection. In many places in Greece it is customary to carry the candle back home to mark three crosses above the entrance door in order to bless the occupants with the light of Christ’s resurrection.