Easter

What determines the dates on which Easter falls within a given year? Bank
Holidays and things like Xmas are pretty much set, but Easter seems all
over the place and this year, being before the clocks even go forwards is
just plain wrong.

 

Some bloke, a wall planner, and some darts.

 

In this country, the Synod of Whitby.

It's quite simple: Easter day is the first Sunday after the first full
moon after the spring equinox.

Jesus was executed on the eve of Passover which is the 14th Nisan. The
Jewish calendar is lunar so the 14th is always a full moon. Passover can
be any day of the week but the church decided that Easter should be
celebrated on the next Sunday (being the first day of the week, the day
of resurrection).

Note that when Pope Gregory re-organised the calendar neither the Jews
nor the Orthodox took a blind bit of notice so passover and the orthodox
Easter can be weeks away from the Gregorian one.

Until quite recently the 'spring bank holiday' was on Whit Monday (50
days after Easter Day and was also moveable.

 

I needed to know it (production forecasts for an electric power company) and
learnt it... from a priest. It is somehow related to Christ's crucifixion
("out of the door, line on the left, one cross each") taking place on full
moon according to tradition. Notice that at Easter the moon is always
showing full.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter
The rule has since the Middle Ages been phrased as Easter is observed on the
Sunday after the first full moon on or after the day of the vernal equinox.
However, this does not reflect the actual ecclesiastical rules precisely.
The reason for this is that the full moon involved (called the Paschal full
moon) is not an astronomical full moon, but an ecclesiastical moon. The
difference is that the astronomical vernal equinox is a natural astronomical
phenomenon, while the ecclesiastical vernal equinox is a fixed March 21.
Easter is determined from tables which determine Easter based on the
ecclesiastical rules described above, which approximate the astronomical
full moon.

 

Let's flame Des, then!

 

And any Romans that we can find. Which (in this day and age) is
probably most of Western Europe (the Romans were a busy lot and
interbred with anyone they could!).

*Especially* those that speak languages derived from Latin..

Phil.

 

Chapter and verse, and a whole lot more, here:
<http://www.tondering.dk/claus/cal/node3.html#SECTION00313100000000000000
0>

This is quite accurate:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computus>

and this will give you dates, without concern for why:
<http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/easter.php>

 

Surely Sunday is the last day of the week. "On the 7th day, God rested"
or something like that.

 

At least let the thread get started before you invoke rule 306b.

 

Enlightened and grateful to all. Thanks.

 

The work-shy ****.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Switters

Well quite, he could have let it run the full half-hour.

 

No he couldn't.

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Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Ace

That's just contradiction.

 

It is, isn't it?[1]


[1] Ha! I bet you didn't expect that.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, CT

You've spoilt it now.

 

And there was me thinking that my footnote had it set up nicely for a
Spanish Inquisition quote...

 

I couldn't deice to play that line or the less familiar, "That's not
right, that's not even wrong" ploy.

 

No, Saturday is the original jewish sabbath. Sunday was used when
christianity became legal in rome because it was the existing day off
as per older roman practice. Assorted theological weasel words such as
the day of resurection were added later to avoid complicated explanations
of why existing holidays were adopted. See also xmas/midwinter etc etc.

 

Nobody expects the inquisition.