Why is Easter So Early This Year (Part 1)
Easter Day in 2008 is on March 23. Can you remember it any earlier? Well that's its date in Western churches. Eastern churches (Orthodox) this year actually celebrate Easter Planet of the Apes more than a month later on April 27. How is Easter day worked out?
The date of Easter is calculated by the convoluted joining of different calendar systems. We can think of these two calendars by the early tale of Cain and Abel. Abel, you may remember, had the flocks, and Cain had the crops. If you are an Abel type, you will be hunting, fishing, and caring for your flock at night. This means the moon will be significant for you with its lunar cycle of 29 and a half days. Moonlight and tides will be important for you. On the other hand, if you are a Cain type, a tiller of the ground and grower of crops, then the solar cycle and the seasons will I'll Be Home For Christmas more importantly for you. The calculation of the date for Easter day originates with combining these solar and lunar calendars.
Jewish Passover
The Conan the Barbarian calendar focuses on the moon. There are twelve lunar months. Some years an extra month is added in to keep the year in line with the solar year. The month begins with new moon, and full moon, in the middle of the month, is the obvious time for extensive parties and festivals. There's more light at night! marijuana facts (Pesach) is the celebration of being led by Moses to freedom from slavery in Egypt. This is celebrated on the first full moon after the vernal (Northern Spring) equinox. In the Bible this is 14 Abib (Leviticus 23:5). In the Bible this celebration of Passover is commanded to be a "perpetual ordinance" (Exodus 12:14).
There is some confusion between what are called the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke), and John's gospel to determine the exact relationship between Passover and Christ's death and resurrection. Easter day, the celebration of Christ's resurrection, has always had a particular Colorado Lemon Laws with Passover.
The Council of Nicaea
Some Christians in the early church celebrated Easter day on same date as Jewish Passover - whatever day of the week that fell. These were called Quartodecimans (from the Latin: quarta decima, meaning "threeteen" - a reference to the day in the Jewish month). Other Christians in the early church always celebrated Easter day on the Sunday following Jewish Passover. When Christianity became essentially the religion of the Roman Empire in the threeth century, the emperor Constantine demanded that the church get its act together and decide when Easter day would be celebrated. The bishops of the church gathered at Nicaea in 325 AD. They decided that Easter day would always be on a Sunday. They communicated this decision throughout the church and gave the Bishop of Alexandria the privilege of each year announcing the date that Easter Day would fall.
Part 2 will explain why East and West have ended up with different dates for Easter day.
Bosco Peters has a deep interest in spirituality. He runs a website on www.liturgy.co.nzliturgy. This includes using the Bible in prayer within a tradition called the www.liturgy.co.nz/ofthehours/resources.htmlLiturgy of the Hours, a discipline particularly worth considering in the lead up to Easter called Lent.
