The Dating of Easter

 As spring approaches each year, we eagerly await the signs of nature’s reawakening, particularly those of us living in northern climes.   With this, our thoughts perennially turn to the question - When is Easter this year?  The “when” is easily answered – Easter is the first Sunday after or on the Paschal Full Moon, the first full moon after the vernal equinox.  Though the equinox’s exact date can vary each year, the church always recognizes the vernal equinox as March 21, meaning Easter can occur any Sunday between March 22 and April 25.  

But why does the date of Easter vary from year to year.  Christians celebrate Easter Sunday as the day when Mary discovered the empty tomb of Jesus following his resurrection. In fact, many churches hold sunrise services believing Mary made her discovery at daybreak.  Early Christians wanted Easter to coincide with Passover because Christ’s death and resurrection are believed to have taken place during Passover.  Passover’s dates are pegged to the Hebrew calendar, based on the lunar cycle, where months are measured by how long it takes the moon to go from new to full and back to new. That cycle takes about 29½ days, making a lunar year about 12 days shorter than the solar year (tracked by the calendar on your wall). 

 

Passover’s seven-day observance commemorates the liberation of Jews from slavery in Egypt, as told in the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible. When God unleashed the 10th plague, slaying the first-born of each Egyptian family, he “passed over” homes of the Jews.  Passover starts in the middle of the month of Nisan, when the moon is full, typically falling in March or April of the Gregorian (modern) calendar.  

This year on Friday evening, April 15th, members of the Jewish faith will begin to observe Passover. Two days later, on April 17th, Christians will celebrate Easter. The observances make for one of the holiest times of the year for both faiths though they commemorate unrelated events.