Why does Easter fall on a different day every year?
Easter is calculated to follow Passover which is based on the lunar calendar. In 2008, Easter will be on Sunday, March 23. 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 2008 the vernal equinox will be on Thursday, March 20. The first full moon after that will be Friday, March 21. Thus, Easter will be on Sunday, March 23. The earliest Easter can be is March 22 as it was last i
(This question was submitted by 28 and 30 year old parishioners of St. Kevin’s.) Easter has no fixed date, unlike Christmas. It is the oldest feast of the Christian Church, as old as Christianity. To answer your question, it is important to provide the context in which the Easter celebration finds its meaning. Easter is the link that connects the Old Testament to the New Testament, that is, the first Jewish Passover Feast with the Last Supper, the Crucifixion of Jesus, and his Resurrection, the cornerstone upon which our faith is built. According to Jewish law, the Passover Feast was celebrated on the 14th day of Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew calendar year. Because the Sunday after the 14th day of Nisan was the historical day of the Resurrection, it became the Christian feast of Easter. However, it is difficult to convert the Hebrew calendar to our present Gregorian calendar. The computus paschalis, the method of determining the date of Easter (and the feasts that depend on the
