Holidays

French Holiday & Travel
Information for the visitor to France
Hosted by
Bookmark Home
Language
Tutorial
Travel News Free Articles Useful Links
Menu
Documentation for visiting France
Health Care -Insurance -Emergencies
-Pharmacies
Phone & Fax - Mobile Phones - Internet -
Post
Customs & Excise - Tobacco, Alcohol &
Drugs
Public Holidays - School Holidays
Electricity - Drinking Water
Climate & Temperature
Demographics - Measurement
Ferries - Rail - Car Hire - Accomodation
and more
Paris In spring time, when the air is filled with the scent of blossom, Cote D'Azure
where summer is long and lazy and never too hot. In winter the châteaux that
make up the architectural heritage of France. As Christmas draws closer, local
country folk are to be seen on the markets selling fresh truffles, crèpes and foies
gras so prized by epicures the world over. Prehistoric man, the Gauls, the
Romans, the Franks all came here and settled, come and find a past that still lives
on today. A holiday in France will be one of the most rewarding and exhilarating
experiences.
Our aim is to help you in preparing for your holiday to France with useful hints and
tips about the country and people of France, the documentation you will need, arm

you with the information that it is only wise to know but we hope you will not need
and give you some insight into some rules and regulations so that you will gain the
most from your holiday. To this end we have brought together some useful facts
and information to make sure your well earned vacation begins as you would
expect the perfect brake to begin and sends you home feeling relaxed, refreshed
and with wondrous memories you will treasure forever.
This information is not written in any particular order of importance, each category
is all important in its own way and there's quite a lot of it to take in at one time.
Please press CTRL + D or click here to bookmark this page
FRENCH
Romance Language of 128
Million
An invaluable resource for anyone planning to visit
France with over 100 sections taking you from basic
French phrases, through grammar and language
structure to colloquial expressions and abbreviations.
Click here to learn more
Menu
Documentation for visiting France
Health Care -Insurance -Emergencies -Pharmacies
Phone & Fax - Mobile Phones - Internet - Post
Customs & Excise - Tobacco, Alcohol & Drugs
Public Holidays - School Holidays
Electricity - Drinking Water
Climate & Temperature
Demographics - Measurement
Ferries - Rail - Car Hire - Accomodation and more
Hosted by
[ 29837 ]
The contents of this page have been derived from several sources. Wherever possible we have

checked the validity of the information however, we can accept no responsibility for errors.
Several of the images displayed on this website are courtesy of BigPhoto.
The web site owner holds copyright on additional images.
Site Map (xml)
Easter
Printable Version
Easter
Find this year's date in the multifaith calendar
Semana Santa Easter festival in Seville, Spain ©
Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the most
important Christian festival, and the one celebrated with the greatest joy.
The date of Easter changes each year, and several other Christian festivals
fix their dates by reference to Easter.
Churches are filled with flowers, and there are special hymns and songs.
But not all Easter customs are Christian; some, such as the Easter Bunny,
are Pagan in origin.
The Easter story is at the heart of Christianity
On Good Friday, Jesus Christ was executed by crucifixion. His body was
taken down from the cross, and buried in a cave.
The tomb was guarded and an enormous stone was put over the entrance,
so that no-one could steal the body.
On the following Sunday, some women visited the grave and found that
the stone had been moved, and that the tomb was empty.
Jesus himself was seen that day, and for days afterwards by many people.
His followers realised that God had raised Jesus from the dead.
193.4 days 'til Easter, April 12, 2009!
The Traditions of Easter
As with almost all "Christian" holidays, Easter has been secularized and
commercialized. The dichotomous nature of Easter and its symbols,
however, is not necessarily a modern fabrication.

Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has
had its non-religious side. In fact, Easter was originally a pagan festival.
The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious
festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre.
When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of
the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to
Christianity. They did so, however, in a clandestine manner.
It would have been suicide for the very early Christian converts to celebrate
their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that
already existed. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread
their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them
to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.
As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of
year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense,
therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as
converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually
changed to its modern spelling, Easter.
The Date of Easter
Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the
week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In that year, the Council of
Nicaea was convened by emperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rule
which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs
after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. However, a caveat
must be introduced here. The "full moon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full
moon, which is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where
day 1 corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not always occur
on the same date as the astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal