Easter weekend is finally here and is set to be filled with activities for Santa Clarita residents and families to enjoy!

From egg hunts to Easter services, Santa Clarita Easter events are as bountiful as the season.

Today, Easter is a commercial event as well as a religious holiday, marked by high sales for greeting cards, candy and other gifts.

But where exactly do the origins of this holiday come from and what does this tradition consist of?

Easter is a Christian holiday that celebrates the belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. In the New Testament of the Bible, the event is said to have occurred three days after Jesus was crucified by the Romans and died in roughly 30 A.D., according to the History Channel.

Related: Things To Do In Santa Clarita, Santa Clarita Events (Easter)

The holiday concludes the “Passion of Christ,” a series of events and holidays that begins with Lent—a 40-day period of fasting, prayer and sacrifice—and ends with Holy Week, which includes Holy Thursday (the celebration of Jesus’ Last Supper with his 12 Apostles), Good Friday (on which Jesus’ death is observed), and Easter Sunday, according to the network.

Although Easter is a Christian holy day, there are many Easter-time traditions with roots that can be traced to non-Christian and even pagan or non-religious celebrations.

Some examples of non-religious Easter traditions include Easter eggs, egg rolling, egg decorating, Easter baskets and the Easter bunny.

The exact origins of the Easter bunny are unknown, although some historians believe it arrived in America with German immigrants in the 1700s. Rabbits are, in many cultures, known as enthusiastic procreators, so the arrival of baby bunnies in springtime meadows became associated with birth and renewal, according to the network.

It’s believed that eggs represent fertility and birth in certain pagan traditions that pre-date Christianity, so egg decorating may have become part of the celebration for Jesus’ resurrection or rebirth, according to the History Channel.

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