Shrove Tuesday traditionally begins the Easter Season for many, but not all Christians.  Shrive is an archaic term that means to confess one's sins and receive absolution.  This day is also widely celebrated by Christians and non-Christians as Mardi Gras (French, meaning Fat Tuesday) and the word carnival (Latin for "goodbye to meat") is often added.  This celebration was created in the days before refrigeration out of the need to use up perishables such as eggs, milk, and butter before the 40 day Lenten fast began. These ingredients have traditionally been used to make pancakes, doughnuts, or cakes making the meal particularly enjoyable. Traditional Mardi Gras carnival colors are purple (royalty and justice), gold (power and purity), and green (faith, love, and friendship).  For Christians those colors can have more specific meanings:  purple (Jesus Christ), gold (the crown of life), and green (eternal life).

Ash Wednesday (46 days before Easter Sunday) officially begins the Easter Season and Lent.  The 40 days of Lent remind us that we are sinners and prepare us to receive God's greatest and free gift to us – redemption from our sins.  Those attending Ash Wednesday services often receive the sign of the cross written with ashes on their forehead.  Ashes are a Biblical symbol of mourning and penance.

Holy Week, the last week in Lent, begins on Palm Sunday with Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem.  It includes Maundy Thursday, the celebration of the Lord's Supper; Good Friday, the anniversary of Jesus sacrificing his life for our sakes, and ends with the Saturday Easter Vigil, when the whole Church keeps watch, while retelling the whole story of who we are as a community of believers and whose we became.

Palm Sunday is a Christian holyday that celebrates Jesus' triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem that was marked by the crowds who were in Jerusalem for Passover, waving palm branches and proclaiming him as the messianic king.  Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt, fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9.  This was the only day in which Jesus Christ set aside His ministerial role to make a political statement before His covenant people.  The people greeted him as though he were an earthly king; they were sure he would end the Roman occupation and Jerusalem would again be a Jewish city.  Palm branches (honor, eternal life, the symbol of triumph, and the national emblem of an independent Palestine), olive branches (peace), cloaks, and a sprinkling of spring flowers were laid on His pathway.  The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!"

Maundy (Holy) Thursday is a Christian holyday that marks the day on which Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist (Holy Communion) at the Last Supper.  As an example of serving others, Jesus washed the apostle's feet.  Later Jesus prayed alone in Gethsemane while eleven of His disciples fell asleep.  Judas Iscariot, the twelfth of Jesus' disciples, went to the Jewish high priests and betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver.  That night Jesus was identified by Judas and arrested by Roman soldiers and taken away.  Some Christians have a ceremonial meal in their home, recalling the Passover Jesus shared with His disciples.  Often the Old Testament custom of eating lamb, wine, flat bread (matzoth), and horseradish sets the pattern, especially when it can serve as a teaching aid for children.

Good Friday is a Christian holyday where we recall the high price that Jesus paid to release us from our sins.  On this day, the church commemorates Jesus' arrest (since by the Jewish custom of counting days from sundown to sundown it was already Friday), his trial, crucifixion and suffering, death, and burial.  It is customary on this day that all pictures, statues, and the cross are covered in mourning black, the chancel and altar coverings are replaced with black, and altar candles are never lit.  They are left this way through Saturday, but are always replaced with white linens before sunrise on Sunday.

Easter Vigil Saturday is a Christian holyday set aside for prayer and inner reflection about the events of the Easter Season.  Although these activities can be done in the privacy of one's home, they are much more rewarding when done in your church's sanctuary or while kneeling at the altar.  This is the one evening during the year that nearly all Christian churches are open for their members to come in and individually commune with God.  It is traditionally a day of quiet meditation as Christians contemplate the darkness of a world without a future and without hope apart from God and his grace.

Easter Sunday, the most important Christian holyday of the year, is a day on which we celebrate mankind's free redemption from sin, the greatest gift ever given.  Jesus is honored for conquering death for us and offering everyone who believes in Him eternal life.  "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Ascension Day is a Christian holyday that marks Jesus' bodily ascension to Heaven.  Some churches celebrate it 40 days after Easter on Thursday, and others celebrate it on the seventh Sunday after Easter.  On that day Jesus told His disciples that they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit and that when they do they should spread His Gospel the world over. Jesus is taken up and received by a cloud. Two men clothed in white appear and tell the disciples that Jesus will return in the same manner as he was taken. (Acts 1:3-11).