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When is Easter and why does the date always change?
Do you need to know the date of Easter? For the next decade, Easter Sunday will be on the following days: -
04 April 2010
24 April 2011
08 April 2012
31 Mar 2013
20 April 2014
05 April 2015
27 Mar 2016
16 April 2017
01 April 2018
21 April 2019
12 April 2020
Unlike other holidays, Easter falls on a different date each year. It is determined by a traditiion to be the "first Sunday following the Full Moon after the Spring Equinox".
But why is this? The answer is that the date of Easter, as adopted by nearly all of the Western Churches, both Catholic and Protestant has its roots way back in the mists of time - and was borrowed from a pagan festival that had been celebrated for many centuries before the birth of Christ.
The date of Easter is actually determined by observations of the natural cycles of sun and moon. The ancient astronomers, recognizing the regular movements of these heavenly bodies and their effect on the seasons, incorporated these influences into a formula for fixing the date of the pagan Spring Fertility Festival. This important celebration was a feast day that was found more or less universally throughout the ancient world. The date of this event was of the utmost importance to agricultural societies, for it determined the onset of the spring planting season.
There are actually two equinox days in the solar year. Both the spring and autumn equinoxes have equal lengths of days and nights ( Equinox means equal night in Latin). The two equinoxes fall exactly half way between the shortest day of the year at mid-winter (the winter solstice) and the longest day at mid-summer (the summer solstice).
The spring equinox falls on March 20/21 every year, according to the standard (Gregorian) calendar, which itself is based on the yearly solar cycle. The Romans, together with other ancient races, defined the beginning of their year to be the date of the spring (vernal) equinox. However they used a lunar calendar of 28 days, based on the phases of the moon, for their dating. The first day would have been set to coincide with the first full moon, which was, therefore, a fixed date in their calendar. As the average length of a month in the present (sun based) calendar is longer than the lunar calendar month of 28 days, the two calendars are never in synch. Hence the varying date of Easter in our present calendar, which can move up to a maximum of 28 days after the date of the spring equinox on the 20/21st March.
So we see that elements of both the Sun and the Moon (Sol and Luna in Latin) are woven tightly together into the ancient tradition. This was emphasised by mythology where the Sun and Moon were often represented in the pantheon of Gods. The Equinox, itself, was determined by the supposed passage of the Sun God and the role of the balancing influence of the Moon was acknowledged by honoring her in her fullest aspect. The moon's cycle of 28 days was thought to govern the female menstrual cycle and thus had a strong link to fertility. Sunday was the obvious choice for the day of the festival because Sunday was always the day of the Sun in ancient times. Spring, being the time of rebirth and regeneration after the dead period of winter, was a happy and hopeful time, so a fertility celebration to honor their Gods in the hope of good harvests and bountiful livestock fertility in the coming months was most apt to peoples living in harmony with the earth in their primitive farming communities.
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