Why is Easter on a different date every year ?
Most holidays have a fixed date . Valentine’s Day is always on February fourteenth . Saint Patrick’s Day is always on March seventeenth . Christmas is always on December twenty — fifth . Why is Easter on a different date every year ? Thank you in advance for your answers .
May 2nd, 2011 at 11:21 am
Jesus wants to make sure you’re paying attention.
May 2nd, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Because Jesus rose from the dead on the 1st day of the week which is Sunday. That’s why Christians always celebrate easter on Sunday.
However, no one truly knows what day of the week Jesus was born on (not even sure what season) but the Catholic Church institued the Christmas celebration on Dec. 25th. So, most all Christian choose Dec. 25th as the day to corporately recognized the birth of Jesus.
May 2nd, 2011 at 12:13 pm
The First Council of Nicaea established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the vernal equinox.[3] Ecclesiastically, the equinox is reckoned to be on March 21 (regardless of the astronomically correct date), and the “Full Moon” is not necessarily the astronomically correct date. The date of Easter therefore varies between March 22 and April 25.
May 2nd, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Easter falls on the first Sunday (right there, gonna change every year), after the 4th full moon after the New Year. Or maybe it’s the 4th new moon. Not sure. It usually falls on the Sunday during Passover, which is also dependent on the moon.
And, oh, yeah…has something to do with the fact that Jesus DIED during PASSOVER.
May 2nd, 2011 at 1:03 pm
Easter is calculated by using first the vernal equinox as a reference point (which changes annually) and then the first Sunday after the first full moon.
May 2nd, 2011 at 1:31 pm
Because people get mixed up as to whether it is a celebration of a rabbit with a chicken egg fetish or a jewish dude who comes back to life.
May 2nd, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Easter is always on the first Sunday following the full moon, after the vernal equinox (first day of spring). It is called a moveable holiday.
May 2nd, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Because the calculation of the date includes both the day of the week and the lunar cycle.
If the date was purely determined by the solar cycle – like the ones you mention – it would be the same date every year.
If it was limited to the solar and weekly cycles – like say Thanksgiving in the U.S. – it could differ by as much as seven days between any given years.
Since it involves all three cycles, it can vary by as many as 35 days.
May 2nd, 2011 at 3:29 pm
The timing of Easter is based on the lunar (moon) cycle. It falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox (March 21/22). It happens this way because many pre-Christian pagan religions had a major religious holiday following the equinox:
“Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a consort, Attis, who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. Attis was believed to have died and been resurrected each year during the period MAR-22 to MAR-25” (http://www.religioustolerance.org/easter1.htm).
As with Christmas, early Christians attached the story of Jesus to an existing pagan holiday in order to make converting new followers easier.
May 2nd, 2011 at 3:54 pm
It’s got nothing to do with paganism (I was wondering how long it was going to be until someone brought up that old chestnut)
The Hebrew calender is lunar based, and passover, like Easter, follows the lunar cycle. Since the Bible says that Jesus was crucified and resurected around Easter, the Christians followed a similar pattern, initially sticking precisely with the Jewish calculation, and then eventually adopting their own method
May 2nd, 2011 at 3:58 pm
Easter is calculated to follow Passover which is based on the lunar calendar.
In 2010, Easter will be on Sunday, April 4.
Catholics and most Protestants use the new Gregorian calendar decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to calculate the date of Easter.
For more information, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/easter.php
The time of Easter is based on the cycles of the moon, the equinox, and seasons and things in nature.
In simple (?) terms Easter occurs on the first Sunday following the first full moon that occurs on or after the day of the vernal equinox (the first day of spring).
In 2010 the vernal equinox will be on Saturday, March 20. The first full moon after that will be Tuesday, March 30. Thus, Easter will be on Sunday, April 4.
The earliest Easter can be is March 22 as it was last in 1818 and will be next in 2285.
The latest Easter can be is April 25 as it was last in 1943 and will be next in 2038.
With love in Christ.