EASTER

annual festival commemo-. rating Christ’s resurrection; falls about the time of the vernal equinox, ¢. e. the next Sunday following the first full moon of the calendar on or after March 21: forms the opening of the ecclesiastical year. In England method of computing the date was fixed by a synod held at Whitby 664. Previous to this time E. had been kept according to an earlier method of computation, which was rejected by the Western and retained by the astern Church. In 664, however, Britain adopted the practice of the Western Church. The name is derived from a Saxon godde (Hastre) whose festival occurred about the same tine, synchronising with a festival kept in cla ical times. The eating of ‘hot-cro ’ buns on Good Friday is a survival of an ancient custom of making special ‘Easter cakes’ for the festival.