At Delta Capita, we strive to do everything that we can to maintain employee success. This includes supporting religious practices and celebrations, which are an important part of many people’s cultural lives and wellbeing. Lent and Easter are major events in the Christian calendar, and Delta Capita support all our colleagues who celebrate it.
Why Easter is important
Easter is not just about bunnies and colourful eggs. There is much more to the celebration and the days leading to it. The festival is a fundamental part of the Christian faith when the community celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after His crucifixion. In the Christian calendar, Easter follows Lent, a period of 40 days that Christians observe by going without food (fasting) and acts of penance.
The seven days leading up to Easter Sunday are called the Holy Week. This includes Maundy Thursday, the commemoration of Jesus' last supper with his disciples; Good Friday, the day he was executed by hanging on a cross (the crucifixion); and Holy Saturday, the transition between crucifixion and resurrection.
Holy Week
During this week, Christians celebrate the salvation of humankind by Jesus in the last days of his life on Earth. Palm Sunday is the first day of the holy week and the Sunday before Easter. It celebrates Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem riding on a donkey, with a crowd waving palm branches and laying them on the path to celebrate.
Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter Day. It’s when Christians commemorate Jesus eating the Passover meal with his disciples, known as the last supper. It is usually celebrated by sharing bread and wine in church services called Holy Communion, Eucharist or Mass.
Good Friday commemorates Jesus’ crucifixion and is a day of mourning in church. The church service remembers his suffering and death on the cross and what this means for their faith. Easter Sunday marks Jesus' resurrection - the day after he was executed and was seen alive by his disciples and other people.
Celebrating Easter
Many Christians celebrate Easter with special church services, music, candlelight, flowers, and ringing church bells. Food plays a big part as family and friends gather for lunch, wish each other Happy Easter, and eat various traditional foods depending on their local culture.
In many countries, people also give each other chocolate Easter eggs and Easter bunnies. They also stage Easter egg hunts in their gardens. Christians see eggs as a symbol of new life and resurrection. Just as Jesus rose from the tomb, the egg symbolises new life emerging from the shell.
We hope that you all had a cracking Easter weekend!
This is part of a series of articles about religious beliefs and practices. Delta Capita strive to ensure all our employees to feel included from all different background or beliefs. We support and encourage staff to allocate time to their cultural and religious practices, and to their physical and mental wellbeing too.
Are you looking for a new workplace that values diversity and employee wellbeing? Check out our latest vacancies here. Also find out how Delta Capita are reinventing the workplace through employee-centric projects at our Reinventing Hub.
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