It’s Later

We promised you earlier that we would tell you later why this year Easter is on the second earliest day it can be. First, as you may know Easter is a holiday that is connected with the holiday Passover, which is set using the Jewish calendar. This is a calendar that is a lunisolar calendar i.e. one that uses the moon and the sun unlike the Gregorian calendar that we use for day to day things that is only based on the sun. Because of this the date of Passover “moves” on our calendar. Now because of that the date of Easter moves; however, as Easter was decided to always be celebrated on a Sunday, and by the time the method for deciding the date was set up Christians were no longer a group within Judaism it wasn’t just set up to be during Passover. (Which, would make everything easier, but it’s not likely to be changed now.) So a different way of setting the day for Easter was used. Which evolved until the Middle Ages into what we use now. That is Easter is on Sunday. And after the first full moon that takes place on or after the ecclesiastical vernal equinox. (With the ecclesiastical vernal equinox being set as the 21st of March, unlike the real one that moves back and forth between the 20th and 21st.) So the earliest Easter can be is March 22nd. Also, due to the Eastern Church using the Julian calendar their dates are sometimes different. For example this year their Easter is April 27th. So, that is why Easter is so early this year.