ISLAMABAD, March 26: This year on March 27, Christians all over the world are celebrating the culmination of the festival of Easter, which marks the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, with religious fervour and enthusiasm.Easter is the central feast of the Christians. It is the culmination of the 40-day Lent season, which is a time of fasting, alms-giving, repentance, penance, reconciliation and spiritual renewal. For centuries, Easter has been celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox— time of the year at which the sun crosses the equator and when day and night are of equal length in the spring. Easter reminds the man that sacrifice, humility and truth are victorious. We also need to constantly struggle for it and we need to have the correct direction of our life.

The familiar Easter parade goes back to the middle ages, when people walked about the countryside on Easter, stopping along the way to pray. Of course, it presents an opportunity for the people to see and show their spring clothes. The Easter egg is a symbol of life. The Persian & Egyptian also made coloured eggs and ate them during their New Year celebration. This 40-day period of prayer and fasting, call Lent, begins on “Ash Wednesday” and ends on “holy Saturday,” the day before Easter.—APP