Easter is a Christian feast day that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion, which is marked on Good Friday. Christians believe Jesus Christ rose again on the third day of his burial after he was crucified by the Romans at Cavalry.
Easter is a Christian feast day that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion, which is marked on Good Friday. Christians believe Jesus Christ rose again on the third day of his burial after he was crucified by the Romans at Cavalry.
The Easter season begins on Ash Wednesday - the first day of Lent, which lasts 40 days - if you leave out the six Sundays in between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. Lent is a time when Christians fast, or give up a particular food or vice, it is a period of fasting, prayer, and penance.
The fasting period is to remember when Jesus went into the wilderness and fasted for 40 days despite being tempted.
Here's how the world celebrated Easter.
1. Meerkats in London
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Meerkats are given an Easter treat at London Zoo.
Image courtesy: AFP
2. A priest blesses Easter treats
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A Lithuania Orthodox priest blesses cakes and Easter eggs during an Orthodox Easter ceremony in the Prechistensky, the Cathedral Palace in Vilnius, Lithuania, Saturday, April 15, 2017
Image courtesy: PTI
3. Pope Francis baptizes a boy
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Pope Francis baptizes a young boy during the Easter vigil mass in Saint Peter's basilica at the Vatican.
Image courtesy: Reuters
4. Macedonia
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Orthodox nuns attend the Christian Orthodox Easter service at the 10th century St. John the Baptist Monastery near Mavrovo, west of Macedonia's capital Skopje, April 16, 2017.
Image courtesy: Reuters
5. Priests lead the Easter service
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Priests lead the Christian Orthodox Easter service at the 10th century St. John the Baptist Monastery near Mavrovo, west of Macedonia's capital Skopje, April 16, 2017.
Image courtesy: Reuters
6. Moscow, Russia
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Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, conducts the Orthodox Easter service at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, April 16, 2017.
Image courtesy: Reuters
7. Priests bless believers
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Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox priests bless believers during an Easter service at Ascension Church in the town of Vratsa, late on April 15, 2017.
Image courtesy: AFP
8. Moscow, Russia
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An egg-shaped figure is placed to mark Orthodox Easter in front of the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, April 16, 2017.
Image courtesy: Reuters
9. St. Clement Cathedral, Macedonia
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Macedonian Orthodox priests attend a midnight Easter service at the St Clement Cathedral in Skopje on April 15, 2017.
Image courtesy: AFP
10. Patriarch Kirill
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Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, conducts the Orthodox Easter service at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, April 16, 2017.
Image courtesy: Reuters
11. Greece
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Pilgrims of the Greek Orthodox Church celebrate by throwing firecrackers during the Easter Resurrection Service in Ierapetra, Greece, the southern most town of Europe, on April 16, 2017. Millions of Greeks flock to churches around the country this week to celebrate Easter, the country's foremost religious celebration.
Image courtesy: AFP
12. Vladimir Putin
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Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Easter service at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, early April 16, 2017.
Image courtesy: Reuters
13. Iraq
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Iraqi Christians attend an Easter celebration at St.George Chaldean Church in Baghdad, Iraq April 15, 2017.
Image courtesy: Reuters
14. Orthodox Easter
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Believers wait for the beginning of the Orthodox Easter service outside the Mikhailovsky Zlatoverkhy Cathedral (St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral) in Kiev, Ukraine, April 15, 2017.
Image courtesy: Reuters
15. Pope Francis
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Pope Francis holds Book of the Gospels as he leads the Easter vigil mass in Saint Peter's basilica at the Vatican, April 15, 2017.
Image courtesy: Reuters
16. Egyptian Pope leads Easter mass
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Egyptian Coptic Pope Tawadros II leads the Easter mass at the Saint Mar's Coptic Cathedral, in Cairo's al-Abbassiya district on April 15, 2017.
Image courtesy: AFP
17. Cairo, Egypt
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Egyptian women take part in an Easter mass led by of Egypt's Coptic Christian, Pope Tawadros II at the Saint Mark's Coptic Cathedral, in Cairo's al-Abbassiya district late on April 15, 2017.
Image courtesy: AFP
18. Iraq
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An Iraqi Christian woman decorates eggs during Easter celebrations in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on April 14, 2017.
Image courtesy: AFP
19. Iraq
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An Iraqi Christian woman shows decorated eggs during Easter celebrations in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on April 14, 2017.
Image courtesy: AFP
20. Northern Rome
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Penitents carry wooden cross during a Good Friday procession in Civitavecchia, north of Rome, on April 14, 2017. Good Friday is the second of four important days in the Christian calendar beginning with Maundy Thursday and culminating in Easter Sunday, which commemorates Christ's resurrection
Image courtesy: AFP
21. Easter cakes and eggs
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A cat sits before a table with cakes and colored eggs during an Orthodox Easter ceremony at the Pokrovsky Cathedral in Saint Petersburg on April 15, 2017, on the eve of the Orthodox Easter.
Image courtesy: AFP
22. Worshippers hold up candles
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Christian Orthodox worshippers hold up candles during the ceremony of the "Holy Fire" as thousands gather in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City, on April 15, 2017, during Orthodox Easter ceremonies.The ceremony celebrated in the same way for eleven centuries, is marked by the appearance of "sacred fire" in the two cavities on either side of the Holy Sepulchre.
Image courtesy: AFP
23. A girl holds up an Easter egg
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A girl waits outside a church during a ceremony to bless Easter cakes and eggs before a Greek-Catholic Easter service in Pustomyty, Ukraine, April 15, 2017.
Image courtesy: Reuters
