Easter 2024 and Good Friday in Canada
Good Friday is on March 29 in 2024 and Easter Sunday is on March 31.
Is Easter a stat holiday? It depends on your employer. Easter is a multi-day holiday: Good Friday and Easter Monday are federal statutory holiday across Canada. Most private sector workers only have Good Friday as a day off.
Good Friday and Easter Sunday Observances
| Holiday | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good Friday | Friday, April 7 | Friday, March 29 | Friday, April 18 |
| Easter Sunday | Sunday, April 9 | Sunday, March 31 | Sunday, April 20 |
It's a complicated but precise formula that determines the day Easter Sunday is celebrated: It is the first Sunday after the first full moon in spring (after March 21st) which can occur as early March 22 and as late as April 25.
Good Friday marks the death of Jesus Christ according to the Christian religion. It is a fundamental part of Christianity along with the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. Many agree that this is a more important holiday than Christmas since it is the ultimate proof that Jesus is the son of God because he came back from death.
In provinces where Family Day, Islander Day and Louis Riel Day are not observed Good Friday is the first stat holiday after New Years Day.
In Quebec employers can choose to give the day off either on Good Friday or Easter Monday.
Bunnies & eggs
Easter is a highly commercialized holiday when tons of chocolate is sold in the form of easter eggs and easter bunnies. The Easter Bunny brings a basket full of goodies to children for Easter. Sometimes the gifts are hidden so children have to look for them - this is called an egghunt.
Rabbits and eggs are symbols of fertility and were first mentioned in German literature as early as the 1600s.
Easter traditons
There are several traditions for this time of the year. Egg painting is very popular and easy to do. Egg paint kits can be purchased in stores but you can also dye hard boiled eggs using a jar of beet juice! To give eggs extra shine you can rub them with fat - bacon is perfect for this. You laugh now but once you try it you'll see how well this works!
Petting zoos are popular around Easter, too, where kids get a chance to pet and feed bunnies and other animals. Some people even buy pet bunnies but you should only do this if you are ready to truly commit to having a pet - no impulse shopping please.
Family get-togethers are also part of the Easter weekend. After Christmas and Thanksgiving the Easter weekend meal is the third largest meal nationwide.
Lent
In the Catholic religion there are 40 days of fasting preceding Easter. The lent starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on holy Saturday. It is observed to imitate the 40-day fast of Jesus before his death. Generally only one meal a day is allowed and meals shouldn't include meat or fish. Exceptions apply for children and the elderly. The day after the lent period ends people eat a rich breakfast - break the fast - which consists of eggs, ham, bread and fish followed by games throughout the day.
Do you want perfume? A tradition of "sprinkling" in Hungary
A unique Easter tradition in Hungary is the sprinkling of women with parfume or cologne on Easter Sunday.
Men and older boys get up early in the morning and visit girls and women in their families (they are supposed to arrive when women are still sleeping) and sometimes even walk from house to house to visit strangers in the neighbourhood and sprinkle scented water (parfume) on their heads.
According to tradition this keeps women beautiful until next Easter. They usually recite a "sprinkling poem" and ask for permission to sprinkle the ladies. Some fun-loving (and brave) men sometimes use a bucket of cold water instead of perfume ;-)
In return for the sprinkling women give them hand painted eggs, home-made cake, a shot of liquor and even money.
The Origins of Easter
This short article was sent to us by Lawrence - thank you!
The month of April was dedicated to Eastre the Anglo-Saxon goddess of offspring and fertility, her symbol being the rabbit. Eggs and rabbits symbolize birth and fertility in many cultures, with eggs decorated in bright colors and given away as gifts. In 325 A.D., at the Council of Nicaea, Emperor Constantine issued the Easter Rule stating that Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25. Nowadays, many Christians, in place of Easter, celebrate Resurrection Sunday to commemorate that Christ is risen from the dead and He sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us.
What games do you play at Easter? How do you celebrate? What do you eat? Send in your Easter-related comments below:
Why is it that individuals who profess to be knowledgeable are determined to all but eliminate certain individuals beliefs in a power greater than themselves who is vested with forgiveness and compassion for thier fellow human being.Would we not be a better society if more people were less influenced by critical opinions and self appointed experts.
Josephus on Jesus
The extant manuscripts of the book Antiquities of the Jews, written by the first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus around AD 93–94, contain two references to Jesus of Nazareth and one reference to John the Baptist. The first and most extensive reference to Jesus in the Antiquities, found in Book 18, states that Jesus was the Messiah and a wise teacher who was crucified by Pontius Pilate. It is commonly called the Testimonium Flavianum. Nearly all modern scholars reject the authenticity of this passage in its present form, though most nevertheless hold that it contains an authentic nucleus referencing the life and execution of Jesus by Pilate, which was then subjected to Christian interpolation and alteration. However, the exact nature and extent of the original statement, if it even existed, remains unclear.
In the entire first Christian century Jesus is not mentioned by a single Greek or Roman historian, religion scholar, politician, philosopher or poet. His name never occurs in a single inscription, and it is never found in a single piece of private correspondence. Zero!
Zip references.
Dr. Bart Ehrman
Professor of Religious Studies
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Easter is a pagan holiday instituted by Emperor Constantine in the early 300s AD. Good Friday is not the day of Christ's crucifixion, Jesus was crucified on Nissan 14, which according to the Gregorian calendar was a Wednesday, not a Friday.
Easter is only called Easter in English and German, and is more of an alias in those languages than a name of the Feast, The Feast is Pascha, the Passover, and the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, of which the Passover was an Old Testament 'type'. Latin, French, Spanish all use versions of the Greek "Pascha",(Latin-Pascha, French Pâques, Spanish-Pascua) all of which refer to the
the Liturgical celebration of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ, which is what Easter is. The use of eggs and bunnies does not change the meaning or origin of Pascha, (Easter in English and German only). All Christians celebrated the same liturgy, which is rooted in the Passion and Resurrection of Christ.
It is an odd anachronism to attribute to Constantine a name that was only used in German and English. These languages used "Easter", because Pascha took place in the month ?ostre, which was named after the goddess "ISHTAR".
It does not follow that the feast of Easter was named after the goddess ishtar any more than it follows that all Wednesday Church services are named after the Germanic god of war 'Odin' or "Woden", for which Wednesday is named.