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Easter

Easter is a spring festival that celebrates the central event of the Christian faith: the resurrection of Christ three days after his death by crucifixion.  Easter is the oldest Christian holiday and the most important day of the church year. All the Christian movable feasts and the entire liturgical year of worship are arranged around Easter.
Easter Sunday is preceded by the season of Lent , a 40-day period of fasting and repentence culminating in Holy Week, and followed by a 50-day Easter Season that stretches from Easter to Pentecost.

Name of Easter

The origins of the word "Easter" are not certain, but probably derive from Estre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring . The German word Ostern has the same derivation, but most other languages follow the Greek term used by the early Christians: pascha, from the Hebrew pesach (Passover).
In Latin, Easter is Festa Paschalia (plural because it is a seven-day feast), which became the basis for the French Pâques, the Italian Pasqua, and the Spanish Pascua. Also related are the Scottish Pask, the Dutch Paschen, the Danish Paaske, and the Swedish Pask. (ReligionFacts)

What is 'drought'?

Most of us think of droughts as when there's no rain at all. But actually they can happen when there's less rain than people thought there would be.
It usually happens over months or even years, when an area, like East Africa, doesn't have a big enough water supply.

Unlike other natural disasters, droughts happen very slowly over time.

What are the effects of drought?

Droughts can be very dangerous for people living in areas with not enough food or water. Deaths can happen from lack of food and water, and there are lots of health problems too.

When there's not enough water, crops fail, which means there isn't enough food to go around.

It also means that farmers lose money, and the area can become very poor.

When a region is very poor and doesn't have enough food or water, arguments can happen over who should be able to access the goods, which can escalate into wars. (CBBC Newsround)

What is a 'famine'?

The United Nations has declared that parts of Somalia in east Africa are suffering from a famine.The 'Horn of Africa' area is suffering its worst drought in 60 years.
But what does the term 'famine' mean?
The word famine is used to describe a hunger crisis at its worse.

Famine is the most serious of five phases that are used by the UN and most aid agencies.

Certain requirements have to be met for a situation to be called a famine. These include:

• At least 20% of the population doesn't have enough food for the average person to lead a healthy life (2,100 kilocalories a day)
• There is acute malnutrition in more than 30 percent of children
• And there are two deaths per 10,000 people every day, or four child deaths per 10,000 children every day (CBBC Newsround)

Confusing Words