Why Easter Moves

[Amelia]

Easter's Date

Unlike festivals such as Christmas, Easter has been celebrated without interruption since New Testament times. The dates of all movable feasts are also calculated around the date of Easter. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica:

...western Christians celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the full moon (the paschal moon) that occurs on or next after the vernal equinox on March 21. If the paschal moon, which is calculated from a system of golden numbers and epacts and does not necessarily coincide with the astronomical full moon, occurs on a Sunday, Easter is the following Sunday.

The U.S. Naval Observatory's Astronomical Applications Department says that Easter is determined by the "ecclesiastical moon" as defined by church-constructed tables to be used permanently for calculating the phase of the moon. This full moon doesn't necessarily coincide with the astronomical full moon, which means, Navy researchers say, that Easter is not necessarily the very next Sunday after a full moon. It could be the next Sunday after the ecclesiastical moon. This happened in 1876.

These calculations say that Easter can fall between March 22 and April 25. This was decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 as part of the Gregorian calendar.

During New Testament times, the Christian church celebrated Easter at the same time as the Jews observed Passover. (The first of Passover's eight days is Nissan 15 on the Jewish calendar. Passover observes the flight and freedom of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.) By the middle of the second century, Easter was celebrated on the Sunday after Passover. The Council of Nicaea decided in 325 A.D. that all churches should celebrate it together on a Sunday.

The Eastern Orthodox church may celebrate Easter up to a month later, as its calculation of the date is based on the Julian calendar, which is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. In 1865 and 1963, Easter observance in both Eastern and Western churches coincided.

In Other Words....

The origins of the names for the Easter holiday vary slightly. "Easter" and "Ostern" derive from Eostre. Other names are derivative from the Jewish word for Passover, Pesach.

English: Easter

German: Ostern

Greek: Pascha

Spanish: Pascua

Italian: Pasqua

French: Pâques

Portugese: Páscoa

Dutch: Pasen

Danish: Paaske