Eastertide

The Great Fifty Days of Eastertide form a single festival period in which the tone of joy created at the Easter Vigil is sustained through the following seven weeks, and the Church celebrates the gloriously risen Christ:

Triumphant in his glory now,

his sceptre ruleth all, 

earth, heaven and hell before him bow, 

and at his footstool fall. 

(Fulbert of Chartres)

The season of Easter, or Eastertide, begins at sunset on the eve of Easter and ends on Pentecost, the day we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church (see Acts 2). 

Easter is also more than just an extended celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. In the early church, Lent was a season for new converts to learn about the faith and prepare for baptism on Easter Sunday. The initial purpose of the 50-day Easter season was to continue the faith formation of new Christians.

Today, this extended season gives us time to rejoice and experience what it means when we say Christ is risen. It’s the season when we remember our baptisms and how through this sacrament we are, according to the liturgy, “incorporated into Christ’s mighty acts of salvation.” As “Easter people,” we also celebrate and ponder the birth of the Church and gifts of the Spirit (Pentecost), and how we are to live as faithful disciples of Christ.

Early Christians gave the name Pentecost to this whole fifty-day span of rejoicing, which Tertullian calls ‘this most joyful period’ (laetissimum spatium). In those places where the custom of lighting the Easter Candle at the beginning of Easter is followed, the lit Candle stands prominently in church for all the Eastertide services. The Alleluia appears frequently in liturgical speech and song; Morning Prayer begins with the traditional collection of Pauline texts known as the Easter Anthems, and white or gold vestments and decorations emphasise the joy and brightness of the season.

In the late 4th century, the Feast of Ascension, 40 days after Easter, came into being. On this day, we remember that he commissioned his disciples to continue his work, promising them the gift of the Holy Spirit. The arrival of the promised gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost completes and crowns the Easter Festival.

During Eastertide, the Sundays after Easter Sunday are named consecutively Second Sunday of Easter, Third Sunday of Easter, etc. up to the Seventh Sunday of Easter and concludes with Pentecost Sunday which commemorates the giving of the Holy Spirit to the apostles, the beginnings of the Church and its mission to every tongue and people and nation.

Paschal candle

In various Christian churches, but not by all means all, a paschal candle is lit. But what does it signify?

The origin of the paschal candle is uncertain. The most likely origin is that it derived from the Lucernarium, the evening office with which early Christians began the vigil for every Sunday and especially that of Easter.

In turn, this rite is probably inspired by the Jewish custom of lighting a lamp at the conclusion of the Sabbath. The rite therefore has its roots in the very beginning of Christianity.

In the Lucernarium rite the light destined to dispel the darkness of night was offered to Christ as the splendour of the Father and indefectible light. This Sunday rite was logically carried out with greater solemnity during the Easter Vigil.

There is clear evidence that this solemn rite began no later than the second half of the fourth century. For example, the use of singing a hymn in praise of the candle and the Easter mystery is mentioned as an established custom in a letter of St. Jerome, written in 384 to Presidio, a deacon from Piacenza, Italy.

Saints Ambrose and Augustine are also known to have composed such Easter proclamations. The poetic and solemn text of the " Exsultet," or Easter proclamation now in use, originated in the fifth century but its author is unknown.

The use of the candle has varied over the centuries. Initially it was broken up after the Easter Vigil and its fragments given to the faithful. This was later transferred to the following Sunday; but from the 10th century the use prevailed of keeping it in a place of honour near the Gospel until the feast of the Ascension (now until Pentecost).

From around the 12th century the custom began of inscribing the current year on the candle as well as the dates of the principal movable feasts. The candle hence grew in size so as to merit the attribution of pillar mentioned in the " Exsultet." There are cases of candles weighing about 300 pounds. The procession foreseen in the present rite requires much more moderate dimensions.

The paschal candle is usually blessed at the beginning of the Easter Vigil ceremonies and is placed on a special candlestick near the altar or ambo.

During the ceremony, five grains of incense representing Christ's wounds are inserted in the form of a cross. An alpha above the cross and an omega below (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet) indicate that Christ is the beginning and end of all. The current year is traced on the four sides of the cross.

The candle remains in the presbytery during the 50 days of Easter season and is lit for all liturgical offices. After Pentecost it is left next to the baptismal font.