What day is easter this year?
Easter (Greek: Πάσχα, (Ethiopic), Pascha) is an important annual religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to Christian belief, Jesus was resurrected from the dead three days after his crucifixion. Many Christian denominations celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday (also Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday), two days after Good Friday. The chronology of his death and resurrection is variously interpreted to be between A.D. 26 and 36. Easter also refers to the season of the church year called Eastertide or the Easter Season. Traditionally the Easter Season lasted for the forty days from Easter Day until Ascension Day but now officially lasts for the fifty days until Pentecost. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week or the Octave of Easter. Easter also marks the end of Lent, a season of prayer and penance. Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. Easter falls at some point between
Easter is calculated to follow Passover which is based on the lunar calendar. In 2009, Easter will be on Sunday, April 12. 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_c… http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/easter…. 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 2009 the vernal equinox will be on Friday, March 20. The first full moon after that will be Thursday, April 9. Thus, Easter will be on Sunday, April 12. The earliest Easter can be is March 22 as it was last in
