The timing of Easter, each year (Jesus, priest, Moses, exodus)

[The Great Architect]

Originally Posted by doppelgänger

And it's still celebrated that way. Sure there's a lot of churchy stuff overlaying it, but the holiday itself is dominated by ancient fertility symbols (rabbits, eggs, lilies, etc.). Easter is a holiday celebrating sex, fertility, the renewing of life and reproduction - just as it always has been.

Cool! The information has been great, so far; thanks, everybody. I'll have to do some research, myself. I have never heard of the 'vernal equinox' before; although, I have a vague idea of what an equinox is.

Either of the two times during a year when the sun crosses the celestial equator and when the length of day and night are approximately equal; the vernal equinox or the autumnal equinox.

So, what does that mean?

That Easter would be connected to the Jewish Passover, makes perfect sense. The capture of Jesus is put on hold, because the Passover is taking place. (In the Bible, I mean)

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by The Great Architect

Cool! The information has been great, so far; thanks, everybody. I'll have to do some research, myself. I have never heard of the 'vernal equinox' before; although, I have a vague idea of what an equinox is.

All "vernal equinox" means is the first day of spring. The "autumnal equinox" is the first day of autumn. The word "equinox" refers to the fact that the hours and minutes of daylight is exactly equal to the hours and minutes of darkness.

[Francine]

Originally Posted by The Great Architect

I have a vague idea of what an equinox is.

If you live in a valley west of a mountain range like we do in the Portland-Vancouver area, you will notice that sunrise appears over a different mountain every day. The position where the sun pokes its bald head over the hilltops goes from south to north during the summer and fall, and from north to south during the winter and spring. The rate at which the position of the sunrise changes is maximum on the day of the equinox. If you were on the equator on that day, the sun would rise exactly due east. At noon on the equator on the equinox, a vertical stick casts no shadow.

[Starfish]

I'd sure like to see Easter given a fixed date, like Christmas. But then, who cares what I think?

[MidnightBlue]

Most of the rules have already been laid out, but to summarize in one place:

1) Easter or Pascha is always the first Sunday after the full moon after the vernal equinox.

2) For ecclesiastical purposes, the vernal equinox is always the 21st of March, regardless of when the actual vernal equinox is.

3) In the Western churches, the ecclesiastical vernal equinox is determined according to the Gregorian calendar. In the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches the ecclesiastical vernal equinox is determined according to the Julian calendar. This is true even in Orthodox churches that follow the Gregorian calendar for all other purposes -- except in the Orthodox Church of Finland, which observes Easter on the Western date.

[tomspug]

If Easter was a fixed day, it wouldn't always fall on a Sunday.

[Francine]

Originally Posted by Starfish

I'd sure like to see Easter given a fixed date, like Christmas. But then, who cares what I think?

Why not the same day as the Spring Equinox, which marks the period of new growth after the land has been three months in the grave of Winter?

[MidnightBlue]

Originally Posted by tomspug

If Easter was a fixed day, it wouldn't always fall on a Sunday.

In the early church there were some local churches that did celebrate Easter on the 14th of Nisan -- i.e., on Passover -- regardless of what day of the week that was, and for that reason they came to be called Quartodecimans ("Fourteeners"). There are saints recognized by both the Eastern and Western churches who were Quartodecimans. See Quartodecimanism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, the majority view was that Easter should always be celebrated on a Sunday, and eventually the view prevailed that all Christians must celebrate Easter on the same day, and that that day ought to be a Sunday.

[Starfish]

Originally Posted by tomspug

If Easter was a fixed day, it wouldn't always fall on a Sunday.

Good point! Then how about like Thanksgiving (for those of us in the U.S.). It's always the 3rd Thurs. of Nov.
I like the first Sunday in spring. Shall we vote on it?