why is easter different every year?
353731
The day Easter is is determined this way.  Easter always falls on the first Sunday following the First full moon after the spring equinox.
269100
Easter is on the first Sunday after the first full moon after vernal equinox.  This is why the date varies from year to year.  Good Friday is simply the Friday before Easter.
435006
"Easter" is the "goddess of fetility", she represents the new life that springs up in the springtime.  Eggs and rabbits are pretty much the ultimate symbols of fertility or birth and life.  Why do we hide them? so others can find them - it's a game.   When the pagan leaders converted to christianity, they kept their old holidays and rituals and skewed them to represent their new god.  Thus, the "new time of birth" was called a "resurrection" and the "returning of the sun" (the spring equinox) became known as 'the return of the son'.  The roots are the same though - representing a rebirth in the time of spring - thus the eggs (rebirth and fertility).
431346
A lot of people get overwrought about this..  unnecessarily, I think.\n\nThe NAME "Easter" was indeed the name of the pagan spring festival of the Germanic tribes.\n\nBut the Jewish Passover (Hebrew 'Pesach', Greek translation 'Pascha') was held at the same time of year, and since Jesus was crucified at the feast of Passover and raised just after it, the celebration of his resurrection naturally ended up being held at about the same time.  \n\nActually, the early church had different customs for when and how to celebrate this season. In AD 325 a council of the church agreed to a formula for determining the date, and for always observing the Day of Resurrection on a SUNDAY, since it was on that day, the first day of the week, that Jesus rose from the dead.\n\nNow in the Mediterranean cultures they simply took the word English renders as "Passover" and used that name for the feast.  But when the church spread among the Germanic tribes it might sometimes be called "Easter" instead, from the name of the Germanic feast.  (We do, however, sometimes use the word "paschal" to refer to things related to the death of Christ and Easter.)   \n\nBUT under EITHER name the Christian celebration of the resurrection was not substantially different.  It was hardly "paganized", anymore than someone just 'decided' to celebrate the resurrection at the time of a pagan festival.  \n\n(The fact that there ARE spring festivals in varous religions is not all that surprising.  And if people want to make something of it, their criticsim ought to be of the original Hebrew Passover, which was in part a spring/seasonal feast --closely connected to the 'Firstfruits'-- just as the two other major Jewish festivals were harvest festivals!   But it is silly to conclude this somehow makes all these things pagan.  I would argue, instead that God called his people to see in the 'new life' of spring a sign in his creation of his SPIRITUAL work for his people, as he redeemed them from Egypt and gave them a new life.)
337977
Eggs are associated with Easter for a very simple reason - the egg is seen as the symbol of life (a young chick, duckling etc will grow from it). Then, it also represents Jesus's grave. So when we break the eggs we are remembering what Jesus did when he resurrected and came to life from the dead and got out from his grave (so breaking the egg is similar to Jesus opening his grave).\n\nThe Easter bunny has its origin in pre-Christian fertility lore. The Hare and the Rabbit were the most fertile animals known and they served as symbols of the new life during the Spring season. (more about this one at the website below:)
290282
Well, not always. There are only 35 different days on which Easter can fall, and people have been celebrating Easter on Sunday for more than 35 years, so there have been some duplicates.\n\nEaster falls on the Sunday following the first full moon on or after the Spring equinox. Since the Spring equinox usually falls on March 21, if there is a full moon on that day then and if it is a Saturday, Easter can be as early as March 22. Easter can also be as late as April 25.\n\nThis year, there was a full moon on March 14 (too early) and there will be one on April 13 (just right). Easter is the Sunday following, April 16.
301068
Easter is derived from an ancient Germanic name for the month of April, Eostremonat--or rather Eostre Month, in dedication to the goddess Eostre. Eostre, or Ostara was a German goddess of fertility and her return was marked by the coming of spring and the sun. The Ost in her name refers to the East--the rising of the sun. The rebirth of the day and the rebirth of the spring were her specialties, and her celebrations occured during the vernal equinox--the first day of spring. Of course calendar dates have gotten juggled about for quite a few different reasons over time and now April is no longer where it once was on the calendar at what is now March 21st.\n\nThe rabbit was a traditional symbol of the goddess because of its great fertility, and the fact that the coming of spring marked the time when all of the little bunnies were seen starting to be born.\n\nWhen Christianity became the predominant religion it was an easy transition to introduce the rebirth of the Christ figure into the already extant birth and rebirth tradition. Old ways die hard, and the bunny stuck around. \n\nAlthough there are several explanations for the eggs the Easter bunny brings, (other than eggs are another traditional symbol of birth/rebirth) the most likely is that eggs were forbidden during the fast of lent, and were decorated and eaten in abundance to mark the end of the fast.\n\nGerman protestants although breaking with Roman Catholocism liked the egg tradition and kept it. And when German immigrants came to America, they brought with them the traditions of the Osterhase (Easter hare) and his eggs.\n\nInasmuch as Christianity has stolen the ancient goddess' name for their own holiday, it seems only fitting that its original mascot still puts in an appearance each year.
504929
Easter is celebrated on the first sunday after the first full moon following the spring equonix. Because the jews used a lunar calander, we use a lunar calender, too.
234560
I've know about the pagan link between the Easter Bunny and fertility and such for a while.  Here's some other websites I've found:\nhttp://www.easterbunnys.net/easterbunnyhistory.htm\nhttp://wilstar.com/holidays/easter.htm\nhttp://www.chiff.com/a/easter-bunny.htm\n\nPretty much, it seems we get the word Easter from the German holiday that used to take place at about the same time of year.  Easter falls close to Passover - the story of Jesus on the cross takes place in the new testament immediately following the last supper, which was a Passover feast.\n\nBasically, the early Christians borrowed symbols from pagan religions for all of their holidays.  Many Christmas traditions stem from these rituals as well.
394307
Easter is the celebration of Jesus Christ's Resurrection from the dead.
308818
The Easter Bunny is one among many pagan symbols associated with the Christian Easter holiday.  In fact, even the name of the holiday "Easter" is a pagan reference to the pagan goddess of spring, Eostre.  The bunny is a pagan symbol of fertility.  The eggs are also a sign of fertility.  Don't ask me why the bunny brings the eggs...I don't know what that bunny was doing to the chicken!\n\nIt's generally understood that, in order to reduce conflict and increase adoption of the Catholic faith (which has been the dominant "version" of Christianity for most centuries), the Catholic Church integrated many pagan symbols, festivals, etc. into Christian holidays.  Christmas, for example, is another solstice celebration that borrowed many elements from pagan Mithrasism and Saturnalia.
471475
eggs are a symbol of resurrection and therefore the official symbol of easter.  people decorate them to give the eggs added meaning as symbolic objects i would guess.
452284
usually sometime in march, although some people have now for easter
334424
Before I answer the question I would just like to tip my hat to Mommyofive. Bravo, you know what you believe and why you believe it. You don't see that much these days ammong christians or even ammong my fellow pagans. \n\nTo answer your question Easter (also called oster or Ishtar) was a pagan firtility holiday that had practical uses in the region that it was observed. Keeping the pagan beliefs while changing the emphasis helped to bolster the early church as well as preventing a disruption of the traditions. Personally though, I would have put Xmass there as Jesus was born in Feb or March rather than the middle of winter.
986226
My mom was raised by a Presbyterian minister and she was always taught the true meaning of each holiday. We decorate our house with advent calanders and manger scenes, stars and books about the true meaning of Christmas. Despite that, my sister and I always recieved gifts and we understood that those gifts were because it was Jesus' birthday and we were celebrating. We had Santa Claus every year and we had a tree but we knew that we would go to church on Christmas Eve and we would hear the story of the baby born in a manger on that night in Bethlehem. We were even in the Christmas plays every year. Easter was never very commercialized for us because we went to church and, yes, while we still had Easter egg hunts and got Easter baskets, it was more in the fun of Spring than offensive to our beliefs. I think that these holidays are overly commericalized but all we can do is remember the real reasons we have these holidays in the first place. We can teach others about Jesus and why we truly celebrate on these days. As I'm writing this answer I can't help but thinking that maybe the holidays, which are very grown up in a theological sense, were given those little fun things that we all enjoy for the children and to bring out the children in us. As long as we never forget the true meaning to the season, we can celebrate in any way we see fit.
938729
i have always thought of Easter as more important.  Jesus was tempted and because he WAS man, he could've NOT died on the cross for our sins.  However, He chose to do so and showed us His ultimate love and sacrifice through it.  I always look at Easter as a more important and more reverant holiday than Christmas.  I love Christmas and enjoy the festivities with a smile, but Easter always brings a certain solemness at first (usually on Good Friday) and then a joyful ending on Easter Sunday - since He rose and is now alive in Heaven.\n\nGood question!
324788
Easter Sunday's date is loosely based on the Jewish calendar. That is the reason it is so complicated. And the reason it is based on the Jewish calendar is that the historical event occurred on the Jewish holiday of Passover. (Note, however, that some years, the computation of Easter does *not* bring it to a date on or near Passover, as the computation is different for 2 or 3--I don't remember any more--of the 19 year cycle.)\n\nThere are 2 different ways to calculate the date in any given year. One is based on a list of 19 dates (when you get to the bottom of the list, you start over at the beginning), where Easter is the Sunday following the corresponding date on the list.\n\nThe other method requires computing full moons after the (northern hemisphere) spring equinox, then adding days, again to bring it to a Sunday.\n\nThis is somewhat simplified. It is the basic information, not the detail. See below if you want to do the math yourself. Note, also, that the Eastern churches celebrate Easter on different dates in most years.