AMONG many Guyanese, especially children, Easter is regarded as Easter Monday.
Easter is the Sunday before the Monday, for it is on Sunday that the Resurrection of Lord Jesus occurs, the event which gives the Christian religion its existence and validity.  Easter, therefore, commemorates the Resurrection of Lord Jesus, and this strong belief in the truth and actuality of the mystery and divinity of that event prevailed over the centuries until the 19th century when various new sciences such as anthropology, sociology, history, archaeology and others emerged and began to be applied to  events  and beliefs of the past.

When some of these new Sciences were applied to Easter, they came to several strange conclusions, such as Easter was a fertility cult, manifesting death and rebirth;  that Easter was a Teutonic religious observance with its eggs and rabbits and the name “Easter” being “Eoster”, a Teutonic goddess, and so on.  Hard facts, however, deflate these conclusions, which attempt to show that Easter was a pagan observance.  For example, the Resurrection is only named Easter in the Teutonic languages, while in the Latin languages such as French and Spanish, it is called Pascal, a name which is related to the Jewish “Pesach” or Passover.

We could, therefore, confidently dismiss all suggestions that Easter is a pagan observance.
In addition to the proven Historical milieu of Roman Palestine and the emergence of Christianity, the authenticity of the faith and its core event, the death and Resurrection of Lord Jesus, is given strengthened validity when its basic theological assumptions and ethical teachings are seen to be congruent with those of older non-Abrahamic Faiths such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
For instance, in Christian teaching, God takes the form of a human being -Jesus- while in Hinduism, God has done so throughout history whenever human life and conduct have so deteriorated as to necessitate the intercession of the Divine in the world.

When God takes Human form, it is known as an “Outar” and Lord Krishna, an Outar,  actually reiterates this propensity of God in the Bhagwad Gita. To Hindus, therefore, Lord Jesus is an Outar. The characterisation of God as a Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit does not negate the Oneness of God; Hinduism also has a similar Trinity, which likewise does not negate the Oneness of God.

In Ethics, Jesus rejected the “eye-for-an-eye”  for  “turning the other cheek” ethic, and this is seen when dying on the cross. He asks God to forgive his murderers and tormentors rather than to punish them. This is similar to the Hindu teaching of compassion for all living beings, even animals.  The belief that Jesus was the Son of God had conquered death and that his life and teachings are divine is now known and accepted universally.

Easter, the triumphal arising of Jesus from the dead, cannot be fully understood without its linkage to Holy Week.
Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday when Jesus, riding a donkey, makes a triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where he is greeted by crowds waving palm fronds and proclaiming him ‘King of the Jews’. On Tuesday, Jesus visits the Temple and drives out the money changers and business groups, re-establishing it as a place of God.

The priestly class, the Sadducees and Pharisees, felt that Jesus was a revolutionary who was bent on upsetting society and so planned his death. On Wednesday, Judas Iscariot,one of Jesus’ disciples, is suborned to betray him.  On Holy Thursday, Jesus knew he would die the next day.  He washes his disciples’ feet, has his last or farewell meal with them and then goes to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.

As he completed his prayer and during the hours of darkness, he was arrested and taken to the Priests who tried him and sentenced him to death.  Death sentences could, however, only be carried out by the Roman courts, so he had to be sent there.
On the morning of Friday, Good Friday, he was taken to the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, for trial.

Pilate found him not guilty of any crime and was about to free him when he realised that the Priesthood was about to stir up widespread disorder, and Pilate was forced to condemn him to death. The Priesthood then took him over, made to carry the heavy cross on which he was to be crucified and as he kept falling down under its weight, he was whipped. All the time he was mocked and a crown of thorns placed on his head with the words “Jesus Nazarethi, rex Judaicum” – Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.  He was then crucified and as he was about to expire, he prayed to God to forgive his murderers and tormentors with the words, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

His family were permitted to take down his body and place it in the tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea.  The body was prepared for proper burial on  Saturday, which was a time of anxious waiting for the believers. On Sunday, when his family returned to the tomb, they found the heavy stone covering had been removed and the tomb was empty.

Jesus was seen walking about, and he visited his disciples when Thomas insisted on  touching  his wounds to ascertain that it was indeed Jesus. Other people saw him and knew he had conquered death.  The Christian Religion was now justified and established.

In Guyana, Easter is celebrated on Sunday and Monday.  On Sunday, there are church services by various Churches, with the Catholics and Anglicans being the most elaborate and colourful with the joyous message of “He is risen” resonating contrasting with the sad and sorrowful Good Friday services where the Stations of the Cross are enacted.

Easter Monday, a secular holiday, is a time of public rejoicing. There is ubiquitous kite-flying and picnicking, cake baking, family lunches and dinners,  exchange of gifts and Easter greetings and Easter music on the airwaves, and there is a widespread feeling of the freshness of a new day offering peace and creativity to all Mankind.  Adherents of all the various religious Faiths in Guyana vigorously participate in this celebratory aspect of Easter, and many may have even attended the Good Friday and Easter Sunday Church services.