Easter is just around the corner.

But do you know the background of the festival?

The most important questions and answers at a glance.

What is celebrated at Easter?

Manon Priebe

editor.

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Easter, more precisely the days from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday, form the high point of the church year, which begins on the 1st Sunday in Advent.

In the minds of Germans, Christmas may be the more formative holiday.

After all, Advent leads to the festival, and Christmas marks the end of the year with New Year's Eve.

The contemplative time is enriched with neat gifts.

The Easter season falls off significantly in perception.

Quite different according to the official view of the church.

For Christians, Easter is equally the most important and highest festival of the year: Protestant and Catholic believers celebrate the resurrection of Jesus at Easter.

The season of Passion and Lent ends with Easter and the Easter season of joy begins, which lasts 50 days and ends with Pentecost.

The week before Easter is called Holy Week.

The "Holy Week" consists of Palm Sunday, which is the Sunday before Easter Sunday (Jesus enters Jerusalem), Maundy Thursday (Jesus celebrates the last supper with his disciples), Good Friday (the day of Jesus' death), Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday (resurrection of Jesus).

The eponymous "Kar" comes from the Old High German word "kara" for lamentation, sorrow and sorrow.

The question of which holiday – Good Friday or Easter Sunday – is the highest or most important cannot be answered, since for believers the passion, death and resurrection of Christ belong together.

Crucifixion only makes sense with resurrection;

and the resurrection is unthinkable without crucifixion.

The Catholic Church celebrates the "Triduum Sacrum", i.e. three services on Maundy Thursday, on Good Friday and one on the night of Easter Sunday.

All three church courses form a coherent service.

The fact that Good Friday is a very special day in the church year is also shown by the fact that in the Catholic Church no hosts are consecrated on Good Friday, but those from the previous day are used up.

Holy Saturday comes the day after Jesus died on the cross.

The day of Christ's rest from the grave is an "intermediate day" and marks the transition from mourning on Good Friday to the celebration of resurrection on Easter Sunday.

In the night from Saturday to Sunday, Easter bonfires are lit in some places, an originally pagan custom to mark the beginning of spring.

Strictly speaking, Easter begins on the night from Saturday to Sunday.

According to the Bible, Jesus rose from the dead during the Easter Vigil.

Early Sunday morning, women found only his empty grave.

The overcoming of death is therefore celebrated in the services on Easter Sunday.