Why Easter Is the Longest Liturgical Season in the Catholic Church (50 days)

Learn Religions ^ | Mar 2019 | ThoughtCo

[CondoleezzaProtege]

What Is the Octave of Easter?

...The period from Easter Sunday through Divine Mercy Sunday (the Sunday after Easter Sunday) is an especially joyful time. The Catholic Church refers to these eight days (counting both Easter Sunday and Divine Mercy Sunday) as the Octave of Easter. (Octave is also sometimes used to indicate the eighth day, that is, Divine Mercy Sunday, rather than the entire eight-day period.)

Every day in the Octave of Easter is so important that it is treated as a continuation of Easter Sunday itself. For that reason, no fasting is allowed during the Octave of Easter (since fasting has always been forbidden on Sundays), and on the Friday after Easter, the normal obligation to abstain from meat on Fridays is waived.

How Many Days Does the Easter Season Last?

...Because Easter is the most important feast in the Christian calendar, even more important than Christmas, the Easter season continues on for 50 days, through the Ascension of Our Lord to Pentecost Sunday, seven full weeks after Easter Sunday! Indeed, for the purpose of fulfilling our Easter Duty (the requirement to receive Communion at least once during the Easter season), the Easter season extends a bit further, until Trinity Sunday, the first Sunday after Pentecost. That final week isn't counted in the regular Easter season...

Have a Happy Easter!

So even after Easter Sunday has passed, and the Octave of Easter has passed, keep on celebrating and wishing your friends a happy Easter. As St. John Chrysostom reminds us in his famous Easter homily, read in Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches on Easter, Christ has destroyed death, and now is the "feast of faith."

[CondoleezzaProtege]

[Fiji Hill]

In the Methodist Church, the liturgical season of Easter also lasts until Pentacost, which is followed by Kingdomtide, which lasts from Pentacost to Advent.

[vaskypilot]

I am catholic. I always thought the Easter Season goes through the Pentecost.

[ml/nj]

Because you guys stole it from us!

See Counting of the Omer.

ML/NJ

[cloudmountain]

I am catholic. I always thought the Easter Season goes through the Pentecost.
YOU are correct.

Eastertide is the period of 50 days, spanning from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. It is celebrated as a single joyful feast, called the "great Lord's Day." Each Sunday of the season is treated as a Sunday of Easter. ...
The first eight days constitute the Octave of Easter and are celebrated as solemnities of the Lord.

Penticost is the official BIRTHDAY of the Catholic Church!

[Salvation]

For couples:

Marriage = One Man and One Woman Until Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for April 13, 2020:

Reminder: Easter lasts for 50 days! (Lent was only 40.) A lesson that joy will have the last word. How can you and your spouse practice being joyful this Easter season?