The 50 days of Easter are celebrated as one great feast day or as St. Athanasius said, as one "great Sunday." At the beginning of the 50 days is the Easter octave. Octave is Latin for eight. During the octave, we celebrate the feast on the day itself and then seven days later with prayers that refer to it being the same Easter day. This is to signify the octave as treating Easter as one day. It has been said that the octave forms the "early hours" of the "great Sunday." The 50 days of Easter will conclude with Pentecost (meaning fifty). May we live in the peace, joy, and hope of the risen Jesus, which will cause our faith to be contagious!