something about a big rabbit.

1) because it was introduced at the same time as a pagan festival based around the moon because it was "easier that way"
2) about 3.20pm
3) about 11.15am
4) food shortages
5) use up the spare lemon juice around the house
6) haven't you seen that daft josh hartnett film?
7) Mike Diver

the question "what came first the chicken or the egg?" which turns out to be "Rabbit did"

1. It's different because it depends on the moon. I assume this is because of the Romans fitting Christian festivals to Pagan ones, this festival being an equinox of some sort.

2. Don't really no. AD 33 according to Wikipedia.

3. The third day after his crucifixion, I think.

4. It's a traditional celebration I assume. Jesus sacrificed himself, so his worshippers feel they must emulate him.

5. To use up all the sweet goods in the house, it's to do with Lent and giving up luxury.

6. I think it's the period between when Jesus entered the city (can't remember the exact city) on a donkey and the day of his death.

7. Well Judas fingered him, I assume Tiberius, as he was emperor at the time.

of the year apparantly and this varies every year (This year was the earliest for ages)

Jesus died on the cross when he was 30
He was buried, and then came out of his tomb 3 days later.

The lent period of fasting is to do with Jesus knowing what was in store for him, and taking himself away for 40 days (think it was in the desert) in that time he encountered many temptations and the devil. He could have resisted what was in store, but didn't. He also fasted during this time.

Pontious Pilate was in charge of sentencing Jesus.

The connection to pancake day and easter eggs is more to do with the original spring celebration dating from the pagan festival. spring new life, eggs hatching etc.

When Jesus allowed himself to be sacrificed on the cross he took on a lot of the karmic stuff, balancing out good and evil. etc.

The celebration is about the enormity of the sacrifice made by Jesus so that we could all just easily go to heaven. Jesus took the weight of our sins.

Yay, at last my catholic indoctrination has come in useful. If you need to know any more, suggest you watch 'the life of Brian', it's got it all.

run for you lives!!!

other martyrs that died for a cause they believed was worth more than their own life? All the other people who died so others could propser? Why don't they get their own religion?

I guess being the son of God helps. But really.
My religion is Steve Claridge

1. it falls on the first sunday after the first new moon after the spring equinox. this year the spring equinox roughly coincided with the new moon and the weekend, hence easter being on the 23rd March.
2. not Good Friday
3. effectively, two days after he died. So if he died on a Friday, he was resurrected on a Sunday.
4. Fasting is a principle from the Bible, usually coinciding with times of particularly fervent prayer. It's partly to demonstrate the ability to be able to eschew worldly pleasures and partly to show God that you really mean what you're praying about.
5. Pancake day is traditionally the day before lent starts. The idea was to use up all the good stuff in your house (egg, sugar, Jif lemons) before you gave them up for lent. A bit like a low-grade New Year's Eve before the detox of January).
6. It's a number that features in the bible quite regularly - the rains during the flood and Jesus' time in the desert spring to mind. I don't know why 40 days.
7. Pretty much everyone really. He wasn't that popular. So, Pontius Pilate, the Romans, the Pharisees, and a whole load of others.

For Christians, Easter is a celebration of Jesus's death and resurrection. Both are necessary for the celebration. The significance of the cross is (at least) threefold:
1. The substitution of Jesus for the wrongdoings of the world - in essence the tie between us and God had been broken by all the murdering and whoring that went on between creation and Jesus's birth, and there was no way that any human could please God enough to have a proper relationship with Him. Therefore, God being a loving God and all that, He had to send his son, both fully man and fully God, in order to pay the price for all the wrong we've done and to give us a chance of having a relationship with him. This is known as "penal substitution".
2. Victory over evil - essentially Jesus was put to death by those who sought to do evil and by being raised to life, Jesus demonstrated victory over all that.
3. A moral demonstration - identification with victims and those in suffering.