I've often heard people saying o easter is really early this year or late how can this be.
2007-03-26 01:56:08 · 23 answers · asked by alanfgau 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Easter
Because the church, when they were attempting to take over, couldn't find a way of stealing two pagan holidays, Mabon, the spring Equinox & Beltane, May Day. So they fudged it & had one festival that moves every year between the two dates. Yet another example of the church trying to pass off a stolen idea as their own. Just like they do with everything. Δ)
2007-03-28 07:21:03 · answer #1 · answered by Spike J 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In that year, the Council of Nicaea was convened by emperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rule which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. However, a caveat must be introduced here. The "full moon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon, which is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where day 1 corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not always occur on the same date as the astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal equinox" is always on March 21. Therefore, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.
2007-03-26 19:16:32 · answer #2 · answered by Mintjulip 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, Lunar_chick is correct. Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal (spring) equinox. The pagans still celebrate 'eostera', literally 'the time of the egg' at the equinox, but Pope Gregory the nth decided to distance the church from that celebration. The egg, of course, represents the potential for new growth, not the new growth itself, and as life before modern medicine was even more chancy that it is now, so the potential was celebrated, in the hope that this would bring good fortune in the coming season. Rabbits' habits and tendency towards fecundity put them on the map for the same reason. It's therefore fairly easy to see why the Christians put their Christ-birth celebration there.
2007-03-26 19:39:48 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It has to do with the spring equinox,i believe easter falls on the first sunday after the equinox, provided there has been a full moon.Although technically it should fall on the same weekend as passover,but the early church leaders wanted to kill off paganism,so they used the old pagan tradition of Eostre { goddess of the dawn or spring }to celebrate Easter,and thus kill the pagan tradition.{technically in the west easter is still a pagan festival of sorts }
2007-03-26 02:04:23 · answer #4 · answered by hunsareretards 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
It just has to do with when the full moon happens, after the first day of spring. If the full moon is close after, or on, the first day of Spring, Easter is early. It can vary by up to a month, since the full moon happens every 28 days (a lunar month.)
First day of Spring is either March 20, or 21st.
2007-03-26 04:11:44 · answer #5 · answered by Sweet n Sour 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Good question!
Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday immediately following the full moon after Spring equinox.
The dates are based on a lunar calendar very similar to the Hebrew calendar.
2007-03-27 12:04:30 · answer #6 · answered by pamela p 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Easter is the first sunday after the first full moon after the eqinox, and because the full moon cycle is 28 days, each Easter can vary by 4weeks!!
if it was the firs sunday after the equinox it would only vary by days as the equinox is always on the same day.
2007-03-26 16:55:52 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's to do with pre-christian religions and practices. It all depends on the phases of the moon and the spring equinox etc. Pagans celebrated the coming of Spring and new life based on the natural cycles of the earth. When Christians were trying to convert everyone to their religion, they found it easier to convince peopleto accept it if they still let them have their own festivals. Therefore Easter, Christmas etc take place at the same as their pre-christian counterparts.
2007-03-26 02:10:13 · answer #8 · answered by fionio 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Easter is always on the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring
2007-03-26 02:03:58 · answer #9 · answered by B2B2008 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Easter Sunday is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the official vernal equinox, so it varies from year to year depending on the date of the full moon.
2007-03-26 02:05:55 · answer #10 · answered by Lunar_Chick 4 · 4⤊ 0⤋
First Sunday after the first full moon after
the Equinox (1st day of Spring, March 21)
2007-03-26 02:13:15 · answer #11 · answered by ed 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋