My mom wants to know (I think I already do) how they determine when easter is every year cuz sometimes its in march, other times in April.  I told her it has something to do with the Jewish Calander, but she wants more specific.  So if you can help, i'd appreciate it!!\n\nThanks
214846
The Date of Easter\n\nbar\n\nEaster is an annual festival observed throughout the Christian world. The date for Easter shifts every year within the Gregorian Calendar. The Gregorian Calendar is the standard international calendar for civil use. In addition, it regulates the ceremonial cycle of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. The current Gregorian ecclesiastical rules that determine the date of Easter trace back to 325 CE at the First Council of Nicaea convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine. At that time the Roman world used the Julian Calendar (put in place by Julius Caesar).\n\nThe Council decided to keep Easter on a Sunday, the same Sunday throughout the world. To fix incontrovertibly the date for Easter, and to make it determinable indefinitely in advance, the Council constructed special tables to compute the date. These tables were revised in the following few centuries resulting eventually in the tables constructed by the 6th century Abbot of Scythia, Dionysis Exiguus. Nonetheless, different means of calculations continued in use throughout the Christian world.\n\nIn 1582 Gregory XIII (Pope of the Roman Catholic Church) completed a reconstruction of the Julian calendar and produced new Easter tables. One major difference between the Julian and Gregorian Calendar is the "leap year rule". See our FAQ on Calendars for a description of the difference. Universal adoption of this Gregorian calendar occurred slowly. By the 1700's, though, most of western Europe had adopted the Gregorian Calendar. The Eastern Christian churches still determine the Easter dates using the older Julian Calendar method.\n\nThe usual statement, that Easter Day is the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs next after the vernal equinox, is not a precise statement of the actual ecclesiastical rules. The full moon involved is not the astronomical Full Moon but an ecclesiastical moon (determined from tables) that keeps, more or less, in step with the astronomical Moon.\n\nThe ecclesiastical rules are:\n\n    * Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after the day of the vernal equinox;\n    * this particular ecclesiastical full moon is the 14th day of a tabular lunation (new moon); and\n    * the vernal equinox is fixed as March 21. \n\nresulting in that Easter can never occur before March 22 or later than April 25. The Gregorian dates for the ecclesiastical full moon come from the Gregorian tables. Therefore, the civil date of Easter depends upon which tables - Gregorian or pre-Gregorian - are used. The western (Roman Catholic and Protestant) Christian churches use the Gregorian tables; many eastern (Orthodox) Christian churches use the older tables based on the Julian Calendar.\n\nIn a congress held in 1923, the eastern churches adopted a modified Gregorian Calendar and decided to set the date of Easter according to the astronomical Full Moon for the meridian of Jerusalem. However, a variety of practices remain among the eastern churches.\n\nThere are three major differences between the ecclesiastical system and the astronomical system.\n\n    * The times of the ecclesiastical full moons are not necessarily identical to the times of astronomical Full Moons. The ecclesiastical tables did not account for the full complexity of the lunar motion.\n    * The vernal equinox has a precise astronomical definition determined by the actual apparent motion of the Sun as seen from the Earth. It is the precise time at which the apparent ecliptic longitude of the Sun is zero. (Yes, the Sun's ecliptic longitude, not its declination, is used for the astronomical definition.) This precise time shifts within the civil calendar very slightly from year to year. In the ecclesiastical system the vernal equinox does not shift; it is fixed at March 21 regardless of the actual motion of the Sun.\n    * The date of Easter is a specific calendar date. Easter starts when that date starts
69167
The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention   The symbol originated with the pagan festival of Eastre   The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.\n\n The Germans brought the symbol of the Easter rabbit to America   It was widely ignored y other Christians until shortly after the Civil War   In fact, Easter itself was not wide y celebrated in America until after that tim \n\nThe Easter Eg\n\n As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates the Christi n holiday of Easter   The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuri s old when Easter was first celebrated by Christian\n\n From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures   Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf o , if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flower\n\n Today, children hunt colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets along with the modern version of real East r eggs -- those made of plastic or chocolate cand
196555
I don't know who...but I can answer why. It is a simple matter of history. There was a dscision to define periods of history...BC...now BCE (for Before Christian Era) is an arbitrary division...\nAnd don't think this happened in the year Zero...it happened much later. \nThink of it this way...its like a book shelf that you are putting in order...this way you know where to history books are...the cook books..etc. Now you know if it happened before or after Christ's birth.\nWhy Christ? Cause this is a western calander system...in the far east they use a different calander with different time.  Hope this helps\n\n\noh and AD is latin...for in the Year of Our Lord
497818
If you were to read this account to the average Israeli today and ask him what time of year this could be, he would likely answer, “Sometime between April and October.” Why? The answer is simple. From November to March is the cold, rainy season in Israel, and December 25 is certainly in the wintertime. Shepherds would not be living out-of-doors, keeping watch over their flocks in the fields at night. Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, is located in the higher elevations and is just a few miles from Jerusalem. Even in years when the weather is less extreme, it is quite cold there at night during the winter.—Micah 5:2; Luke 2:15.\nA look into history at the time of Jesus’ birth sheds light on the fact that he was not born during December’s snow. Jesus’ mother, Mary, although in an advanced stage of pregnancy, had to travel from her home in Nazareth to Bethlehem. She and Joseph did so to meet the requirements of the census decreed by the Roman ruler Caesar Augustus. (Luke 2:1-7) The Jewish populace, resenting the Roman rule and its heavy taxation, was already on the verge of rebellion. Why would Rome unnecessarily irritate them by requiring many to travel to be registered during the most difficult and even treacherous winter weather? Is it not far more reasonable that this would have been decreed for a season that lends itself to travel, such as spring or autumn?\n\nRECORDED EVIDENCE OF COLD WINTERS\nEzra 10:9 reports that it can get cold during the winter months as recorded in the scripture:\n"  So all the men of Judah and Benjamin collected themselves together at Jerusalem within three days, that is, in the ninth month on the twentieth [day] of the month, and all the people kept sitting in the open place of the house of the [true] God, shivering because of the matter and on account of the showers of rain.  "\nDecember corresponds to the latter part of the ninth month (Chislev) of the ancient Hebrew calendar and the early part of the tenth month (Tebeth). With this in mind, consider the account in Ezra 10:9 about something that happened just a few miles from Bethlehem:\n\nTRUTH\nAs for December the 25th being designated as Christ's birthday, substituting of factual evidence with something known as a falsehood shows disregard for the wholesome truth at the very least. What other truths could be substituted also for falsehoods.
215674
IN THE SPRING, MOST CULTURES CELEBRATE FERTILITY.  WE KNOW THAT BUNNIES PRODUCE PRODIGIOUSLY, AND EGGS REPRESENT NEW LIFE.  IN MAKING CHRISTIANY UNDERSTANDABLE TO PAGAN CULTURES, MISSIONARIES USED THE PAGAN SYMBOLS TO ASSIST IN TEACHING CHRISTIAN TRUTH.  EASTER IS CELEBRATED IN THE SPRING.  THUS IT WAS IMPORTANT TO HARMOMIZE THE LIFE AND TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE TO THE SPRING CELEBRATIONS OF FERTILITY & NEW LIFE IN OTHER CULTURES.
98793
Ostara\nSolstice\nAgain did the earth shift\nAgain did the nights grow short\nAnd the days long \nAnd the people\nof the Earth were glad\nand celebrated\neach in their own ways\n- Diane Lee Moomey\n\nAround March 20/21, we celebrate Ostara, the Spring Equinox, which heralds the beginning of spring and the of the agricultural year On this day darkness and light are in balance. From this day onward, day will dominate the night and the Earth will explode with life. Ostara is a celebration of this renewal and rebirth of nature and warming of the Earth. As mirrors of the world around us, this is an ideal time to put plans into action for growth in our own lives, to actively encourage change.\nOstara is named after Eostra or Ostara, who is the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring to whom offerings of cakes and colored eggs were made at the Vernal Equinox. Rabbits were sacred to her, especially white rabbits, and she was believed to take the form of a rabbit.\nIt is time for the Earth to "spring" into action and for us to initiate and celebrate new beginnings. One of the most universal symbols of this Sabbat is the planting of seeds and the sprouting of new life from the womb of the Earth Mother. The Vernal or Spring Equinox marks the beginning of the "light" half of the year, when day gradually becomes longer than night. From now until Autumn, the power of the Goddess dominates our festivities bringing light, warmth and fertility to the earth. The courtship of the God and Goddess commences with this Sabbat and this is an appropriate time to focus on the balance of male and female energies within ourselves. \nIn the Pagan Wheel of the Year, this is the time when the great Mother Goddess, again a virgin at Candlemas, welcomes the young Sun God unto her and conceives a child of this divine union. The child will be born nine months later, at Yule, the Winter Solstice.\nThe word "Easter" is derived from the word "Eostre" and the symbols used to celebrate Easter have pre-Christian origins. The Easter bunny reminds us of the hare, the animal most sacred to the Goddess Diana and the eggs that the hare brings symbolize new beginnings, rebirth, continuity and growth. Have you ever wondered why Easter changes dates and months from year to year? Interestingly it is always the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox! Blessed Be....\n\nHappy Ostara \nDivine-Candle(magickal name)
422341
Neither Christmas nor Easter have any connection with Christianity. So-called "Christmas" celebrates the pagan Saturnalia and the appropriately-named "Easter" celebrates the pagan goddess Eostre.\n\nJesus was not even born in December. Nearly all so-called Christmas customs dishonor Christ.\n\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/19981215/article_02.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20001215/\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20041215/article_01.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/19981215/\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/rq/article_11.htm\n\nChristendom adopts "Easter" from pagan worship of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre (or Oestre). Most Easter traditions merely repackage pagan fertility festivals and concentrate on eating, decorating, and frivolity. Christ certainly never wanted that.\n\nBy contrast, it's tragic that the one holiday Christ actually *DID* ask Christians to commemorate is entirely ignored by almost all of Christendom. It is, of course, the Memorial of Christ's death, sometimes called "the Last Supper" or "the Lord's Evening Meal".\n\n(1 Corinthians 11:23-25, NWT) The Lord Jesus in the night in which he was going to be handed over took a loaf... Keep doing this in remembrance of me.” 25 He did likewise respecting the cup.. Keep doing this... in remembrance of me.” \n\n(1 Cor 11:24, 25, NEB) "Do this as a memorial of me.” \n\n\nChrist Jesus himself personally celebrated and explained the significance of that Last Supper to his followers (see Matthew 26:26-29). Christians who commemorate the Last Supper have done so on the same Jewish calendar date as Jesus did, Nisan 14, which generally falls between late March and mid-April. Interestingly, Christians in the centuries immediately after Christ's impalement were sometimes called "Quartodecimans" which literally mean "Fourteen-ers", because the early Christians were well-known for this true holy day.\n\nHow would Jesus feel to learn that the holiday he commanded was widely ignored, while his so-called followers chose to celebrate a pagan false god and their own traditions of men? We don't need to wonder.\n\n(Matthew 15:6-9) You have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites, Isaiah aptly prophesied about you when he said, 8 ‘This people honors me with their lips, yet their heart is far removed from me. 9 It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.’”\n\nLearn more:\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/lmn/article_08.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/rq/article_11.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20041215/article_02.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20011115/article_02.htm\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/20050101a/\nhttp://watchtower.org/e/jt/
146824
Ostara is the one I believe most closely matches Easter. She represents fertility and renewal just as spring has sprung. \n\nDid you know: Eggs were (and still are!) dyed or painted bright colors as an offering to Ostara. Dawn is the best time to invoke her. In days of old, fires were lit at dawn in her honor. It always amazes me how traditions like this survive over the millennia.---
151097
Yep. And Easter is a pagan celebration of spring.
477062
No.  Easter is ALWAYS the first Sunday after the first full moon  after the first day of Spring.  That was probably decided eons ago by the Catholic Church.   There is rhyme and reason to holidays.\nMemorial day is the last Monday in May, Labor Day the first Monday in September.  Thanksgiving the 3rd Thursday in November.  Those are American dates and were decided by Congress.\n\nBut you get the picture on why the date may be different, right?\n\nI guarantee your birthday will be on Easter once again.  Here is a great website that goes up to the year 9999 for Easter dates.\n\nAnd yeah, below is right, I forgot my Catholic School lessons on the date and I had a brain fart.  Of course it is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of Spring.  \n\nMy daughter's birthday is April 16 and she is 22 and I believe Easter has fallen on her birthdate 3 times.\nEaster can be no earlier than March 22 and no later than April 25.  I went up to the year 2040 and Easter did not fall again on your birthday.  I can't give you an explanation for that.
8834
The calculations for the date of Easter can be somewhat complicated. See computus for a discussion covering both the traditional tabular methods and more exclusively mathematical algorithms such as the one developed by mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss.\n\nIn the Western Church, Easter has not fallen on the earliest of the 35 possible dates, March 22, since 1818, and will not do so again until 2285; it fell on the latest possible date, April 25 most recently in 1943, and will next fall on that date in 2038.\n\nHistorically, other forms of determining the holiday's date were also used. For example, Quartodecimanism was the practice of setting the holiday on the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nisan, which is the day of preparation for Passover.
142232
Easter is not a Christian Holiday neither is chocolate candy good for children to eat.Christmas is not a Christian holiday either December 25 is the day Tammuz was born, the son of Nimrod (who I believe to be satan) and Semiramis (the sun god.) Tammuz was killed buy a wildbore or pig. Thats where they get the easter ham. Every first Sunday after the first full moon of spring the sun worshiper would celebrate giving rabbits and eggs as a symbol of Life. Paganism has taken over most christian churches that's why most church worship on Sunday (The Devils Day) Gods Holy day is The Sabbath the 7th day Saturday. This is why The bible warn as against false teachings. Follow Gods commandment out of Love not in the tradition the rest of the so call christians are doing.
196307
Easter is more important then Christmas.  It is the celebration of the paschal mystery.  Christ, Jesus son of God fully human and fully God dies and rises on the third day.  Christmas is very important to, because this was his birth but Easter brings us life after death.\n\nI don't know where people are getting Easter has pagan origins. (Then again using the english word easter and not paschal mystery it would be pagan.  That is why I like the romance languages and latin, then it is not pagan.)  Easter is set around the Jewish feast of passover.  Yes Christmas replaced the birth of the roman sun god feast.\n\nI think why they are trying to wipe out Christmas is because of how big and commercial it has become.  Easter is big but the stores don't start promoting it five months in advance like they do Christmas.  Also in public spaces we don't put up risen Jesus statutes as they do putting up nativity sets at Christmas time.
54084
Not a thing. Before Christians appropriated it, Easter was a fertility festival, and it is clear how bunnies and eggs would factor into that. The paganism of the holiday never really went away, even after Christians began calling it Easter.
218366
order children's book, adjustable for dif ages.  aroun $12 donation. 1-800-643-4645.  \ni wish they made a game like little army men so we could react all those battles in the old testiment.\n\ni need to chat WITH YOU seiously about easter.  it was a bad translation one time in new testiment.  \n\nput your thinking cap on, now.  was JESUS our istar lamb or PASSOVER LAMB? passover is still the same celebration that the children of israel had and is held the same time of year that they held it then.read exodus again. \n\nPLEASE CONTACT ME ON myPROFILE FOR STUDY MATERIALS FOR PROOFS.\n\nI'VE HUNTED EASTER EGGS WITH THE BEST OF THEM, BUT I'VE LEARNED DIFFERENT NOW.it will not hurt kids to hunt eggs as long as they know they have nothing to do with RESSURECTION.  hope we can be friends.
135690
This has little to do with Easter/Passover and more to do with the time they occur, during the vernal equinox. The Sun has crossed the equator back into the Northern hemisphere again, and is causing temperature differentials, with which comes great winds as they cause pressure differentials. \nYou will notice similar violent winds during the autumnal equinox, as the Sun recedes behind the equator again. See the source for more details.
149959
According to our calendar system Jesus was born in 4 B.C. and died in 30 A.D. at 33 years old.\nOriginally thought to be at year 1 A.D. scholars and progressing advancement in dating recalculated for the more accurate date of 4 B.C. \n\nAll these other people here have no idea what they're talking about.