Y7 Festivals -  Easter

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Religious Studies at KS 3 - an Outline

Y7 - 9 Assignments and  Information



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Easter is the central Christian festival that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus.  resurrection means the coming back to life. When Christians talk about Jesus they do not talk about him as though he was alive but as though he IS alive.  Christians believe that after his Crucifixion on the Friday (now called Good Friday)  he was put in a tomb rather hurriedly. The next day was Shabbat and the body could not be touched.  Early on the Sunday morning (Easter Sunday) the followers of Jesus returned to the tomb to find that the body was not there. Jesus then appeared to his followers in a variety of events but the accounts of these appearances make the point that Jesus was not a ghost!

Interestingly, the word Easter is not a Christian word.  It comes from a Celtic word EOSTRE which was the name given to a goddess worshipped by the ancient Celts.   Eostre was a goddess of growth and new life and was worshipped especially at wells or water springs with flowers.  Christians as the religion spread through Europe used this time to combine the Christian festival with the Pagan Celtic festival and so Easter remains a Spring festival as well as the celebration of new life in Jesus Christ.

Also Easter is very closely linked with Passover because Jesus was celebrating a Seder meal the nigh before he died.  You have some knowledge of this and can find out more by following the fourth research  link below.

RESEARCH

If you go to the following sites they will tell you much more about the Easter Story and what went on before.

This site   http://library.thinkquest.org/28505/christianity/easte.htm\  is a "thinkquest" site about Easter.  The information is very short and simple but easily understood. If you do not know anything about the Christian story start here. It will take about 20 minutes to go through all the different pages on the site.

The next site:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/christ_holydayse1.shtml
gives a few more details about the events leading up to Easter. Click on the days.

This site http://www.christianity.net.au/xtra/easter2002.htm is obviously a Christian site and can tell you a great deal about what Christians believe.  It also have important links to the information about Jesus from the Bible documents (Gospels) which is very useful

This site which looks a bit flowery! http://www.holidays.net/easter/story.htm gives some good information about Easter celebrations and some excellent links to pages about Passover as well. Helps with Task 2.

You can also look in your Skills in Religious Studies book for information about Task 3 on Page 58 to 59.

 

TASKS

Task 1    Tell the Easter Story from the Thursday when Jesus was arrested to Easter Sunday when he rose from the dead, as though you were one of Jesus' followers and writing a series of short letters home to your parents.
You do not need to give lots of details,   just enough to show that you know what is going on.  You can express you feelings about it as well.  You might like to include some pictures.

Task 2    Find out how Christians celebrate Easter and write a short talk about it (250 words) that you might give to a group of students aged 8 years old. You can include:-

-  How are Churches decorated? What colours are used?
-  What is the Easter or Paschal Candle?
-  What have Eggs got to do with it?
-  Different celebrations around the world?
-  What has the Jewish Passover got to do with Easter

Task 3 In two or three paragraphs:- i.  Explain why you think Christians feel that Easter is so important to them. Try to find out a few views of Christians about Easter. ii.  Does the idea of resurrection make thinking about death easier, what do you think?