It\u2019s become a kind of tradition to talk about various holidays every year, but the problem is that it\u2019s hard to say something different every year \u2014 there\u2019s only so much to be said for most holidays. Easter is no exception\u2026. after a few years the discussion about the real meaning and importance of Easter and the Easter Bunny, chocolate eggs, egg hunts, etc. begin to sound like a broken record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyhow, I thought this year I\u2019d focus on Easter being a \u201cmovable feast.\u201d Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the \u201cPaschal Full Moon\u201d \u2014 that means the first full Moon immediately following the vernal (spring) equinox. Of course, like most things, it\u2019s more complicated than that \u2014 because Easter isn\u2019t based on the actual Moon or equinox date\u2026. here\u2019s the connection between the Moon and Easter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I mentioned that Easter is what\u2019s known as a movable feast \u2014 that means that Easter jumps around the calendar and is a religious holiday that falls on a different calendar date from year to year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The date of Easter is tied to the relationship between the Paschal Full Moon \u2014 whose dates are based on calculations made long ago, and the Church\u2019s fixed date of the March equinox (the spring or vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere) which is March 21. This makes determining when Easter will be more confusing because of the (occasional) differences between the \u201cChurch dates\u201d and the astronomical dates.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s the \u201crule-of-thumb\u201d I found for determining the date:
\u201cEaster is observed on the Sunday following the first full Moon that occurs on or after the March equinox.\u201d But occasionally, as I said, the Church\u2019s dates don\u2019t coincide with the astronomical dates, in which case the \u201crule-of-thumb\u201d won\u2019t apply.
First, let\u2019s define the terms:
The astronomical dates of the full Moon and the March equinox are the actual, scientifically determined dates of those events.
The Church\u2019s dates of the full Moon and the March equinox are those used by the Christian Church. They were defined long ago in order to aid in the calculation of Easter\u2019s date. That means that they may differ from the astronomical dates of those events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In A.D. 325, a full Moon calendar was created that did not take into account all the factors of lunar motion that we know about today. The Christian Church still follows this calendar, which means that the date of the ecclesiastical full Moon may be one or two days off from the date of the astronomical full Moon. And \u2014 the astronomical date of the equinox changes over time, but the Church has fixed the event in their calendar to March 21. This means that the Church date of the equinox will always be March 21, even if the astronomical date is March 19 or 20,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using the astronomical dates for 2023, the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere occurred on Monday, March 20. The first full Moon to occur after that equinox date is April\u2019s full Pink Moon, that reached peak illumination on Thursday, April 6 at 12:37 a.m. Eastern Time. According to the rule-of-thumb, that makes April\u2019s full Moon the Paschal Full Moon [\u201cPaschal\u201d comes from Pascha, the Greek and Latin word for Passover] so Easter is observed on the first Sunday after April 6 \u2014 that\u2019s today, April 9.
Happy Easter!
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s become a kind of tradition to talk about various holidays every year, but the problem is that it\u2019s hard to say something different every year \u2014 there\u2019s only so much to be said for most holidays. Easter is no … Continue reading