Easter marks a holiday for religious and secular celebration, and many Vicksburg churches plan special services to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

From the most religious events and remembrances of the year to egg hunts and champagne toasts, there’s more than one way to experience Easter.

“We do try to do something just a little different every year,” said Julie Townley, programs director for Hawkins United Methodist Church, 3736 Halls Ferry Road, where three tall crosses dominate the lawn. During Holy Week, which begins Sunday, which is Palm Sunday, and continues through Easter, people may gather at benches placed around the crosses any time of day.

It is meant as a place for personal reflection and prayer, Townley said, and a short devotional service will be held under the crosses Wednesday night at 6:30.

Vicksburg ministers of all faiths will gather at Fort Hill in the Vicksburg National Military Park for an Easter sunrise service at 7 a.m., which will be followed by an egg hunt.

The interdenominational event is organized by the YMCA.

In past years, the Easter egg hunt at Bowmar Baptist Church, 1825 U.S. 61 South, has drawn kids by the hundreds. Though an egg hunt is scheduled for March 22 and has been advertised at schools and preschools, church officials said it will be smaller this year, and only younger children will get to participate.

The egg hunt will be for children younger than 6, said Bryan “Mr. Moose” Tribble, the children’s minister. In previous years, children of all ages have taken part in the egg hunt, and Tribble said he believes it has drawn up to 400 people.

Several churches have announced egg hunts Sunday, including Christ Episcopal Church, 1115 Main St., where the activity will follow the 10 a.m. service; the First Church of the Nazarene, 3428 Wisconsin Ave., at 10 a.m.; and First Methodist Protestant Church, 500 Porters Chapel Road, at 10 a.m. An egg hunt Friday at Northside Baptist Church, 4820 N. Washington St., will begin at 2 p.m. Bradley’s Chapel United Methodist, 1358 Oak Ridge Road, will host an egg hunt next Saturday March 22 at 11 a.m. Grace Baptist Church, 1729 Hankinson Road, will have an egg hunt at 10 a.m. today.

Fort Hill isn’t the only place for early-risers on Easter morning. Several Vicksburg churches plan early “sunrise services” for Easter. The award for earliest belongs to King Solomon Missionary Baptist, 1401 Farmer St., which has scheduled a service for 5:30 a.m., well before daylight.

“We have one to baptize that morning, so we’ll also be having baptismal services as part of our morning worship,” said the Rev. R.D. Bernard. “The church of antiquity would only baptize once a year, and that would be on Easter morning,” he said.

Sunrise services will be celebrated at Oakland Baptist, 2959 Oak Ridge Road, at 6:30; at Wilderness Baptist Church, 5415 Gibson Road, at 6:30; at Southside Baptist, 965 Fisher Ferry Road, at 7; and at Immanuel Baptist Church, 6949 U.S. 61 South, at 7:30 Easter morning

Holy Week

During Holy Week, special services and events are planned.

Mount Zion No. 4 M.B. Church, 122 Union Ave., will hold services every day of the week at 7 p.m., beginning Monday, with guest ministers.

King Solomon will host a revival on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday beginning at 7 p.m. The Rev. Edward Holley of Bethesda Baptist Church in Detroit, a guest evangelist, will lead the revival.

The Wednesday before Easter, known commonly as Holy Wednesday, is sometimes called Spy Wednesday for the day the Gospels say Judas Iscariot conspired to betray Jesus.

Prayer beneath the crosses at Hawkins United Methodist at 6:30 p.m. is one of several services in Vicksburg on Holy Wednesday.

Wednesday services are at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 5930 Warriors Trail, at 6 p.m.; at Trinity Baptist, 3365 Porters Chapel Road, at 6:30 p.m.; Christ Episcopal at 12:15 p.m.; St. Michael Catholic Church, 100 St. Michael Place, at 7 p.m.; Bradley’s Chapel United Methodist at 6 p.m. ; and Bovina Baptist Church, 5293 U.S. 80, at 6 p.m.

Maundy Thursday services are announced at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 900 First North St., at 6 p.m.; St. Alban’s Episcopal at 6 p.m.; Christ Episcopal at 6 p.m.; and Lutheran Church of the Messiah, 301 Cain Ridge Road, at 7 p.m.

Maundy Thursday supper will be served at Mercy Seat Baptist Church, 5 Dos Casas Lane, at 7 p.m. A 5 p.m. supper at St. Mary’s Catholic Church will be followed by Mass at 7.

Good Friday services are announced at St. Mary’s Episcopal at noon; St. Alban’s Episcopal at 6 p.m.; Christ Episcopal at 12:15 p.m.; Holy Cross Anglican Church, 1021 Crawford St., at 7 p.m.; St. Mary’s Catholic at 7 p.m.; St. Michael Catholic at 7 p.m.; and Lutheran Church of the Messaiah at 7 p.m.

An Easter’s Eve vigil on Holy Saturday at 8 p.m. at The Church of the Holy Trinity, 900 South St., will be followed by a rare church event: a champagne reception to celebrate Christ’s resurrection.

Saturday vigils are announced at St. Alban’s Episcopal at 6 p.m. followed by a reception; St. Mary’s Catholic at 8 p.m. and St. Michael Catholic at 8 p.m.

St. Michael Catholic will follow its morning services Easter Sunday at 8:30 and 11 with a 2 p.m. service conducted in Spanish, said the Rev. P.J. Curley.

Bowmar Baptist is one of several Vicksburg churches that have planned pageants and performances around the Easter story.

“Pilate on the Beach,” a dramatic presentation focusing on the character of Pontius Pilate, will be performed there on Good Friday at 7 p.m.

Stations of the Cross

Many churches plan Stations of the Cross, a visual and sometimes interactive retelling of the Passion story.

At Triumph Church, 136 Honeysuckle Lane, “Portraits of the Passion” will be part of a Good Friday service beginning at 7 p.m. “It walks you through the events of Good Friday with narration and music,” said the Rev. Mike Fields. Sunday morning services will be at Triumph at 8:30 and 10:30.

St. Alban’s Episcopal will say the Stations of the Cross at 6 p.m. Wednesday, followed by Holy Eucharist and a healing service.

Stations of the Cross will be performed Friday at Holy Cross Anglican at noon and at St. Mary’s Catholic at 3 p.m.

The tall crosses at Hawkins will stand in front of the building all week. An audiotape of music and scripture (voiced by James Earl Jones, Townley said) will play on a loop, and people may stop any time of day or night.

“If you work somewhere and get off at 3 o’clock in the morning and want to stop by, the idea was that it would be open to anybody, anytime,” Townley said. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday services at the church will be at 6:30 p.m.

Inside the church, a “living cross” will take shape on Easter Sunday as worshipers bring flowers and greenery to place in a cross made out of chicken wire.

Before the church’s “Service of Darkness,” at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Townley said participants will be led through the Stations of the Cross, depicting Gospel episodes of the events leading up to the death of Jesus. They will be invited to touch a barbed wire “crown of thorns” and taste vinegar said to have been held to Jesus’ mouth on a sponge, Townley said. The stations will be open at other times throughout Holy Week.

“It’s the same story; it’ll never change, but it’s just a new way of experiencing that story.”