Easter dates

[johnlambert]

Jesus died on 7th April AD30 so why do we celebrate Easter on different dates each year?

[vehelpfulguy]

We celebrate his birth on the same day, Christmas day, each year, but it is almost certain that he was not born anywhere around this period.

Christmas was just chosen as a christian festival because there was already an end of year pagan festival and the christian church wanted to grab a part of the action.

The dates for easter are chosen each year based on the moon cycles.

[johnlambert]

He was born around September 5-3BC we celebrate Christmas on 25th December because this was when the pagans celebrated the shortest day and the begining of longer days, but I cant understand why, when we do know the exact day, date and even the aproximate time of His death it is comemorated on different dates. Even the nearest Sunday to the 7th April would make sense just like we have rememerence day on the nearest sunday to 11th November each year

[Clanad]

It's entirely dependant of the Jewish Feast of Passover, which, as vehelpfulguy points out, is dependant on moond cycles, since Passover occurs ,in the Hebrew calendar, on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nissan and ends on the 22nd day of Nissan. However, in the Gregorian calendar which comprises the January to December months of the year, Passover begins and ends on different days each year. Why? (You had to ask)... the Hebrew calendar is primarily a lunar calendar, meaning the months are determined by the new moon that occurs when the first sliver of the moon appears following the complete darkness of the moon, and the Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar based upon the Earth's rotation around the sun. Since there are 12.4 lunar months in every solar year, this means that a 12-month lunar calendar will lose about 11 days off the solar calendar every year. Since the Passover date is a fixed date in the Hebrew calendar then this means that the Passover date would occur earlier and earlier in the Springtime in the solar year until it would occur in the Wintertime, then in Autumn, then in Summer, and then back to Spring, and so on. To make up for this 'drift' in the Passover date through the solar months of the solar year, an extra month was periodically added to the Hebrew calendar so that the Passover date would drift back about 11 days each year for about two or three years, then jump forward by about a month's worth of days (29 or 30 days).

Contd.

[Clanad]

Contd.

To help solve this problem, Rabbi Hillel II in 358 or 359 C.E. used astronomical and mathematical calculations to align the lunar year with the solar year over a 19-year cycle. To achieve this, Hillel II standardized the length of each of the 12 lunar months, making them either 29 or 30 days so that the length of the 12 lunar months could be aligned with the length of each of the 12 solar months. Additionally, over this 19-year cycle, a second month of "Adar" called "Adar II" was and is added in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years of the cycle, meaning in those years the month of Adar is replaced with the months of Adar I and Adar II. The leap year for Adar is 30 days and in non-leap years, Adar has 29 days. Under Hillel II's lunisolar Hebrew calendar, the months are determined according to the new moon and the years are determined according to the sun. This means that the Passover date will change only slightly from year to year in the Gregorian or solar calendar, with the second month of Adar being periodically added to keep the Passover date in the Springtime. It is important to keep Passover in the Springtime because this is when the first Passover occurred and because Passover must be celebrated in the specific agricultural season of Springtime... (With help from Elimelech David Ha-Levi Web)

[jno]

but as to why we don't just forget Passover and celebrate His death (or more correctly rebirth) on the same day each year, especially since there are some good guesses as to when it might have been... good question!

[Narolines]

Easter, of course, is not a Christian festival at all, but a pagan rite celebrating the fertility goddess Oestre (as in "oestrogen") - hence the eggs, and of course the dependence of the date on the 28-day lunar cycle. Just another example of early Christians hi-jacking an established festival: on this occasion they didn't even bother to change the name!

[dot.hawkes]

Also, why does Debenhams shut on Easter Sunday and Christmas Day but not Good friday?

[jno]

shouldn't think the pagans bothered with anything quite as complicated as Rabbi Hillel II, though. It does seem that the complexities of establishing a uniform date for Easter (because initially different Christian sects celebrated different dates) contributed to the research that established modern measurement of time, however, so Easter has served an unintended purpose.

[gammaray]

The Hebrews had a month named after a Japaneese car manufacturer...wow!

[brionon]

Because you Xtians nicked Easter,named after the Goddess Eostre, from us Pagans.

[THECORBYLOON]

Under The Easter Act 1928, Easter is set as the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April but it is yet to come into force.

dot, Sunday trading laws in England and Wales forbid large shops (ie more than 4000 square feet) opening on Christmas Day or Easter Sunday. Good Friday is a Bank Holiday and there are no trading restrictions on a Bank Holiday.

[jake-the-peg]

John,

Where do you get 7th April AD 30 from?

I found a passing reference to 3 victorians called Wieseler, Sch�rer, and Salmon but can't find any information about how they arrived at this date.

[jno]

Jake I think I recall reading the same date in a book by Robin Lane Fox, years ago, though I no longer have it or any recollection of what it was called.

[jake-the-peg]

Hmm sounds a bit like Archbishop Usher's imfamous pronouncement to me

[jno]

no, as I recall fairly detailed reasoning was given. I do remember being gobsmacked at the certainty with which the writer identified a date 2000 years ago that nobody had bothered to mention at the time; so I'm not vouching for its accuracy. It may have been this book but I really can't remember for sure.