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Why the heck does Easter jump around?


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Okay, so family plans being made, then having friends/guests over too. Me, I figure hey, Easter is in April!

So ... why in the hell is it in March this year, and more to the point, why the hell does it jump around?

2007

-

Sunday, April 8th

2008

-

Sunday, March 23rd

2009

-

Sunday, April 12th

2010

-

Sunday, April 4th

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More seriously,

Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts, in that they do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars (both of which follow the cycle of the sun and the seasons). Instead, the date for Easter is determined on a lunisolar calendar, as is the Hebrew calendar.

In Western Christianity, Easter always falls on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25 inclusively. The following day, Easter Monday, is a legal holiday in many countries with predominantly Christian traditions. In the Julian calendar used by Eastern Christianity, Easter also always falls on a Sunday from March 22 to April 25 inclusive, which in the Gregorian calendar, due to the 13 day difference between the calendars between 1900 and 2099, are dates from April 4 to May 8 inclusive.

The precise date of Easter has at times been a matter for contention.

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normally, the day is computed like this (in western christianity):

easter sunday is the sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox (march 20th or 21th ).

(however, this is th church version of full moon, not the astronomical one, but they differ only about a day at most currently)

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Kind of cool, but Easter hasn't fallen on this early of a date since 1913, which also fell on the 23rd of March. And going back on the calender...

23rd March 1856

23rd March 1845

You'd have to go clear back to 1818 to find an Earlier Easter date...(Mar 22).

Kind of interesting, but seeing how I gave up religion for lent, I shouldn't really care....

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Appreciate the info folks, cause I was a touch clueless on this one and more than a bit miffed about the date and how it was interfering with a few other things already in the planning!

:D

There is always the possiblity that the Catholic Church planned these dates out years ago, just to screw with you.

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