A
Adamski
Guest
That simple
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O
Oneofthewomen
Guest
It’s the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs after the Spring Exquinox.
That’s the how. The why, I have never been very clear on.
That’s the how. The why, I have never been very clear on.
O
Oneofthewomen
Guest
This year the equinox falls on Wednesday 3/20. The first full moon after that is Wednesday 3/27. Which makes 3/31 Easter.
M
mburn16
Guest
If my memory is correct, the “why” is an attempt to relate the date of Easter (and by extension, the rest of Holy Week) to the “anniversary” of the crucifixtion in relation to passover. That is to say, because Jesus was crucified, buried, and risen about the time of passover in the year of his death, we celebrate Easter every year around the time of passover. Since passover changes, so does Easter.
B
bitznbitez
Guest
The first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal (spring) equinox.
The reason is simple.
Its the first Sunday after passover. And it works pretty well too. This year for instance the Jewish passover falls on March 25th (the fullmoon for us is listed as 27th) and the Passover on March 31 the first sunday following passover ( or following the fullmoon ).
Passover is held on the 14th day of the month, the Jewish month was lunar based on the new moon by observation of the first crescent, so not the new moon we now refer to, its a day or two alter in the lunar cycle. The Jews left Egypt on this 14th day of the month, a full moon night.
Why leave on a full moon night ? So they could see where they were going in the dark. Prior to electric lights this would be more obvious to us.
Why the equinox ? The Jewish festivals were tied to things like harvest and such, the wave sheaf etc depended on the harvest, etc. In order to keep the calendar from drifting to much the jewish leaders would add a leap month every now and then to keep the harvest happening at the right time. They took a variety of things into account to keep this lined up. One of which was the equinox, the date of the last harvest, so on and so forth. The net effect was passover usually, with an occasional exception, is the first full moon after the equinox. The Church didn’t wait around for the Rabbi’s to call up and announce they’d added a leap month they simply did a very close approximation by saying “first sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox” or “first sunday after what is generally passover”.
Now why does east and west celebrate on different days ? Because the church never specified when the equinox was. Granted its a celestial phenomena, but you and I never watch the skies, instead we look at the calendar. Same in the past. Prior to the Christian era Emperor Julius came up with the Julian calendar, which has a lot of drift after a couple millenia or more. Pope Gregory in consulation with astronomers such as Copernicus issued the more precise calendar we now use. Catholic countries adopted it pretty quickly. Protestant countries like England and the US colonies objected to the more precise calendar for fear of “following the pope” and so took a lot longer to adopt it. Many eastern orthodox jurisdictions still use the Julian calendar to come up with the date of the equinox. Probably less out of opposition to the Pope and more out of their undying love of tradition, as in “We’ve always used the Julian calendar why change now ?”
Thats it in a nutshell.
The reason is simple.
Its the first Sunday after passover. And it works pretty well too. This year for instance the Jewish passover falls on March 25th (the fullmoon for us is listed as 27th) and the Passover on March 31 the first sunday following passover ( or following the fullmoon ).
Passover is held on the 14th day of the month, the Jewish month was lunar based on the new moon by observation of the first crescent, so not the new moon we now refer to, its a day or two alter in the lunar cycle. The Jews left Egypt on this 14th day of the month, a full moon night.
Why leave on a full moon night ? So they could see where they were going in the dark. Prior to electric lights this would be more obvious to us.
Why the equinox ? The Jewish festivals were tied to things like harvest and such, the wave sheaf etc depended on the harvest, etc. In order to keep the calendar from drifting to much the jewish leaders would add a leap month every now and then to keep the harvest happening at the right time. They took a variety of things into account to keep this lined up. One of which was the equinox, the date of the last harvest, so on and so forth. The net effect was passover usually, with an occasional exception, is the first full moon after the equinox. The Church didn’t wait around for the Rabbi’s to call up and announce they’d added a leap month they simply did a very close approximation by saying “first sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox” or “first sunday after what is generally passover”.
Now why does east and west celebrate on different days ? Because the church never specified when the equinox was. Granted its a celestial phenomena, but you and I never watch the skies, instead we look at the calendar. Same in the past. Prior to the Christian era Emperor Julius came up with the Julian calendar, which has a lot of drift after a couple millenia or more. Pope Gregory in consulation with astronomers such as Copernicus issued the more precise calendar we now use. Catholic countries adopted it pretty quickly. Protestant countries like England and the US colonies objected to the more precise calendar for fear of “following the pope” and so took a lot longer to adopt it. Many eastern orthodox jurisdictions still use the Julian calendar to come up with the date of the equinox. Probably less out of opposition to the Pope and more out of their undying love of tradition, as in “We’ve always used the Julian calendar why change now ?”
Thats it in a nutshell.
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