Ghanaians get ready for Easter celebration

Ghanaians across the country are gearing up for the celebration of Easter with the expected Christian Conventions, beach jams, concert shows, and other social engagements, Ghana News Agency monitoring on the eve of Good Friday revealed.

Most lorry stations visited including the Neoplan Station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, the Kaneshie and Tema Station as well as other major commercial parks were full of travelers struggling to catch buses to their destinations.

Easter, which mainly used to be a Christian period for sober reflection on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, has now taken a wider social dimension.

The Kwahu Mountains now divert attention from Church activities to the National Paragliding Festival site.

The Paragliding festival has become the centre of attraction for Easter festivities as people across the globe troop to the Kwahu Mountains to participate or observe the extraordinary event.

Information available to GNA indicates that pilots from Germany, United States of America, Britain, South Africa and Brazil will participate in this year's paragliding carnival.

In spite of the National Paragliding challenge to the religious celebration of the season, most Church leaders have tasked all Ghanaians to intensify their prayers during the Easter celebrations.

Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion.

His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day – Good Friday. Easter Saturday referred to as Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday also Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday.

The date of Easter varies between March 22 and April 25. Eastern Christianity based its calculations on the Julian Calendar, whose March 21 corresponds, during the 21st century, to April 3 in the Gregorian Calendar, in which calendar their celebration of Easter therefore, varies between April 4 and May 8.

Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar in many languages, the words for "Easter" and "Passover" are etymologically related or homonymous.

Easter customs vary across the Christian world, but decorating Easter eggs is a common motif.

In the Western world, customs such as egg hunting and the Easter Bunny extend from the domain of the church, and often have a secular character.