A boisterous extended clan gathers for a family holiday, launching the requisite arguments, hurt feelings, grudges, inside jokes, laughter, love, reconciliation and lots of eating, plus maybe a car chase.
CHICAGO (RNS) — In America’s third largest city, it’s possible to get a crash course in the world’s religions in a journey of just a few miles — from the University of Chicago’s majestic, ecumenical Christian Rockefeller Memorial Chapel on Chicago’s South Side to the humble Masjid Al-Taqwa, which meets in a converted stable, still under renovation a 15-minute ride to the south.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — For the first time in three years, Greeks were able to celebrate Orthodox Easter without the restrictions made necessary by the coronavirus pandemic.
Beyond the obvious religious messages, in Greece, Easter signifies a return to the countryside, often to people's ancestral homes, and a mass exodus from big cities.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The U.S. secretaries of state and defense met Sunday night with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the highest-level visit to the country’s capital by an American delegation since the start of Russia's invasion.
SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Hundreds of Russians and Ukrainians alike crowded into the only Russian Orthodox Church on the Arabian Peninsula on Sunday to celebrate the most important Christian religious festival of the year — far from home and in the shadow of a war that has brought devastation to Ukraine and international isolation to Moscow.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Far from home and unsure when or even if they will ever get back, Ukrainians displaced by war gathered at churches across Eastern Europe on Sunday to celebrate the Orthodox Easter holiday in safety and to pray for an end to the fighting with Russia.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The sun came out as Ukrainians marked Orthodox Easter in the capital, Kyiv, on Sunday with prayers for those fighting on the front lines and others trapped beyond them in places like Mariupol.
The rituals leading up to Easter are the same. The solemn Good Friday processions. The Holy Saturday blessings of foods that were avoided during Lent. The liturgies accompanied by processions, bells and chants.
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis cleared his schedule Friday to undergo medical checks on his right knee, as his strained ligaments have made walking, standing and getting up from his chair increasingly difficult and painful.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Inside Greece’s Orthodox churches, candles are a symbol of faith and simplicity, slender and traditionally made of beeswax, and placed in large candleholders filled with sand.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Snoopy, Charlie Brown and “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon roamed the soggy White House grounds on Monday for the first Easter egg roll since before the coronavirus pandemic.
Undaunted by rain, President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, kicked off the equivalent of a daylong garden party for some 30,000 kids and adults, including celebrities and costumed characters.
BOSTON (AP) — For many U.S. Christians, this weekend marked the first time since 2019 that they gathered in person on Easter Sunday, a welcome chance to celebrate one of the year’s holiest days side by side with fellow congregants.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — On what is supposed to be Christianity's most joyful day, Pope Francis made an anguished Easter Sunday plea for peace in the “senseless” war in Ukraine and in other armed conflicts raging in the world, and voiced worry about the risk of nuclear warfare.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Christian worshipers gathered in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepluchre, the traditional site of Jesus's crucifixion, burial and resurrection, on Sunday to observe the Easter holiday.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankans protesting for days near the president’s office criticized a lack of progress in finding those responsible for the deaths of more than 260 people in Islamic State-inspired bombings on Easter Sunday three years ago, piling pressure on the government already embroiled in a deep economic crisis.
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — Kevin Harvick was on his annual family beach vacation when he was forced to cut it short early by three days to return to work for the first time in his career on Easter Sunday.
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — On all but three Sunday afternoons since last Easter, Bob Guerra — a Catholic deacon — has carefully packed his favorite crucifix, a Spanish-language Bible, hundreds of Communion wafers secured in Ziploc bags and other liturgical items into a plastic storage box.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House hopes to stir up some “egg-citement” when the Easter Egg Roll returns on Monday after a two-year, coronavirus-induced hiatus.
Easter’s message of renewal will be especially poignant this year for four U.S. congregations rebounding from disasters.
Their churches were destroyed by a tornado in Kentucky, gutted by a blaze in New York City, shattered when Hurricane Ida hit the Louisiana coast, and filled with smoke and ash by the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history.
VICTORVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California shoe store owner opened fire at two shoplifters, police said, but mistakenly shot a 9-year-old girl about to get her picture with a mall Easter bunny.
This Easter, Mark Wahlberg is offering us a gift as sweet as a box of Peeps or a chocolate rabbit — and just as nutritious.
“Father Stu” is a loving biopic of a one-time real-life hell-raising, blue-collar hustler who somehow becomes a white-collared Roman Catholic priest.
There are lots of classic dishes for Easter dinner: rack or leg of lamb, baked ham, Easter Bread, asparagus sides. But no one wants to miss dessert on a holiday, so make it a good one!
Carrots often make an appearance at Easter in some guise, often as a side dish.
LONDON (AP) — Two of naturalist Charles Darwin’s notebooks that were reported stolen from Cambridge University's library have been returned, two decades after they disappeared.
The university said Tuesday that the manuscripts were left in the library inside a pink gift bag, along with a note wishing the librarian a Happy Easter.
LONDON (AP) — Britain's government said Monday all remaining coronavirus measures for travelers, including passenger locator forms and the requirement that unvaccinated people be tested for COVID-19 before and after their arrivals, will end Friday to make going on holiday easier for the Easter school vacation.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Homestead-Miami Speedway will return to the playoff portion of the season in 2022, while St. Louis was awarded a Cup Series race and NASCAR will race on Easter Sunday for the first time in more than three decades in schedule changes released Wednesday.
NEW YORK (AP) — On a chilly Easter Sunday 82 years ago, a tall, elegant Black woman walked down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before an integrated crowd of 75,000 and sang her way into the history books.
BERLIN (AP) — A German federal court ruled Thursday that the golden shade of the foil wrap on Lindt & Spruengli's Gold Bunny, a popular chocolate Easter bunny, enjoys protected status.
The Federal Court of Justice delivered its verdict in a battle between Switzerland's Lindt and a German company, Heilemann, which in 2018 also marketed a chocolate bunny in a gold foil wrap.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Hundreds of Christian worshippers made use of Israel’s easing of coronavirus restrictions Saturday, packing a Jerusalem church revered as the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection for an ancient fire ceremony a day before Orthodox Easter...
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek police set up checkpoints Friday along highways leading out of Athens to enforce a travel ban tightened for Orthodox Easter on May 2...
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The powerful Church of Greece said Tuesday it would allow the faithful to take part in Orthodox Easter services next week but limit attendance and hold the services earlier in the day to conform with a government-imposed curfew...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The coronavirus forced the White House to scrap its traditional Easter Egg Roll for a second straight year on Monday, but that didn't stop President Joe Biden from giving a nod to the tradition in an appearance with a special guest...
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The Navajo Nation on Saturday reported 18 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases and four more deaths...
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — With the potential for crowded churches and big family gatherings over Easter, health officials are urging people to follow Alabama's mandate for face masks and social distancing to avoid a new surge of COVID-19...
JERUSALEM (AP) — Christians in the Holy Land marked Good Friday without the mass pilgrimages usually seen in the days leading up to Easter because of the coronavirus, and worshippers in many other predominantly Christian countries where the virus is still raging observed their second annual Holy Week with tight restrictions on gatherings...
BUCHAREST (AP) — Romanian authorities announced Thursday that Easter celebrations in the deeply Christian country will go ahead in person this year, even though Romania is battling a surge of COVID-19 infections that is threatening to overwhelm its hospitals...
BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Monday urged citizens to limit travel amid the coronavirus pandemic as airlines reported a surge in bookings to traditional beach holiday destinations for Easter.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) — Peeps treats are going on hiatus for several months — another consequence of the coronavirus pandemic.
Just Born Quality Confections said it won’t be producing the popular marshmallow sweets for Halloween, Christmas or Valentine’s Day as the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based company prepares for next Easter, PennLive.com reports.