Many Christian students have been attending Easter and Holy Week services all week, but Sunday they will celebrate Easter.

“Easter is the most important Christian day of the year,” said Daniel Berry, a campus minister intern at the Baptist Student Union.

Berry said Easter reminded Christians of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the “price he paid.”

Holy Week began March 24 with Palm Sunday.

Palm Sunday is the day Jesus came into Jerusalem, said Andrea Camp, a freshman from Marietta.

Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, recognizes the night of the Last Supper, she said, part of which is the origin of Holy Communion.

Berry said the BSU had a Thursday service to “emphasize the sacrifice that Christ made.”

Sister Joan Morris at the Catholic Center said they celebrated a Mass Thursday and also held a ceremonial “washing of the feet,” because Jesus washed the 12 disciples’ feet before the last supper.

Today is Good Friday, which commemorates the day Jesus died, Camp said.

“A lot of people think of Easter as the day Jesus died for our sins, but it is really Good Friday,” she said.

Sunday is Easter, commemorating when Jesus rose from the dead, Camp said.

Blair Boyd, a sophomore from Marietta, said Easter to her is a time to remember the sacrifice Christ made and also a time to be mindful of family.

“It’s the day that Jesus reveals himself to us,” Camp said. “It’s when he proves he is the son of God and that he is our savior.”

Each Christian denomination has unique ways of celebrating and commemorating Holy Week and Easter.

Orthodox churches celebrate Holy Week and Easter on a different day, said Father Anthony Salzman, from the St. Philothea Greek Orthodox Church.

This year, Easter is May 5. The difference in dates is due to the use of the Julian calender, instead of the Gregorian, he said.

After Easter, Salzman said the church celebrates a week of feasting.

Besides the religious celebrations and ceremonies, many students also may participate in traditions such as egg hunts, which may involve the Easter bunny.

The origin of these traditions is not the Easter story, but “pre-Christian fertility lore,” according to Easter on the Net (www.holidays.net/easter/bunny1.htm).

Rabbits and hares were symbols of fertility. And the bunny as a symbol may have originated in Germany during the 1500s, according to the Web site.

Eggs are also symbols of fertility, according to (www.bible.ca/t-holy-days-origin-christmas-easter-halloween.htm). Ancient Egyptians dyed eggs and gave them to each other as gifts, which is probably the origin of colored Easter eggs, according to the Web site.