Why does Easter always fall on different days, and sometimes different months, when Christmas is ALWAYS 12/25, and Mother’s day and Father’s days are ALWAYS in May and June, and Thanksgiving and Halloween always in Nov, and Oct? Bible Question from a reader.
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Our Answer Each holiday is calculated differently. For example, some are always on a certain date, i.e., Christmas is December 25th, Halloween is October 31st, New Years is January 1st. Other holidays are on certain days – in the US, Mothers Day is always the second Sunday in May, Fathers Day is the third Sunday in June and Thanksgiving, by Federal law, is always the fourth Thursday in November. (Other countries celebrate those holidays on different dates.)
Finally, some holidays are based when certain lunar and solar events occur. One of these is Easter. It is on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. First, you find which day is the vernal equinox, then factor in the lunar cycle and then it’s the first Sunday after that. It’s a bit more complex than that. If you want to know the calculation of the full cycle, which by the way, only repeats itself every 5 million years or so go here http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-christian-easter.html By the way, Happy Easter!
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I have just been looking in depth to the questions & answers and just would like to compliment on how they are answered.
God bless
Les Brewer
Thank you for the mechanics of when Easter is worked out but can you explain why we use those mechanics rather than a fixed single day or some other mechanism?
Yes Mark I believe I can. Jesus was crucified during Passover so Easter is calculated based on the date of Passover which is calculated based on the Hebrew calendar and that has to do with calculations based on the moon and vernal equinox. If you want the full details go here
http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-christian-easter.html
Thanks for asking!