How DO You Figure Easter Anyway? 

             That’s a great question that is fairly common each year.  Since it’s never on the same date each year, it’s tough for some people to pin it down.  So “Why?” some people ask, “Why does it jump around all over the Spring calendar!?  Why can’t they just plant it and leave it?”  That is another good question, which I am prepared to answer for you right now.  

            The history can be kind of long and involved for those who don’t care to “read all about it” as they say.  It has to do with a lot of old church politics, some popes, and a few cranky Roman emperors of way back when.  Way before my day, for sure!  We’re talkin’ way back starting sometime around 325 AD, when they started trying to hammer this out.  They had to get the calendar all straightened out and set to their liking (which took a few tries over a several centuries).  But IF you are into reading all about it, here is a web site that you can visit and fill your brain with little factoids to your heart’s content!   http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/easter.html

But know ahead of time, there are some religious groups who are very orthodox and whatnot, and they chose to follow some of the older traditions and for them, it may vary from what the rest of us follow.  There’s always someone in every crowd, huh?  

            But the long and short of it for most of us, is that it has to do with the lunar cycle and the beginning of Spring.  The way they finally settled on figuring the actual date – Easter always falls on the Sunday, after the first full moon, on or after the Vernal Equinox.  Got it?  “What the heck is she talking about?” you may ask.  Ok, bear with me here.  I’ll attempt to explain. 

First you will need to know what the Vernal Equinox is.  If you really love to gather trivia and read a lot, here are another couple of sites for you to explore: http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/VernalEquinox.html and
http://www.equinox-and-solstice.com/html/vernal_equinox.html


             Equinox is the day in the scheme of things where the sun is at that point where we have nearly an equal amount of day and night.  That’s where the “equinox” part figures in.  From the old Latin language roots, it means, “equal night.”  We have two of these each year . . . one in the Autumn, and one in the Spring.  The one in the Autumn is the Autumnal Equinox and the one in the Spring is the Vernal Equinox.  What does “vernal” mean?  Well, that also comes from Latin:

ver·nal (vûr'nəl)
adj.
1. Of, relating to, or occurring in the Spring.
2. Characteristic of or resembling Spring. 
3. Fresh and young; youthful.

[Latin vērnālis, from vērnus, from vēr, Spring.]
Thank you, American Heritage Dictionary. 

 

The Autumnal Equinox is the first day of Autumn, which occurs approximately on September 22nd.  The Vernal Equinox is the first day of Spring and that occurs approximately on March 21st.  Ok?  Is this making more sense?  Now that you know when to look for the Vernal Equinox – now you can look for the next full moon that will occur on or after that equinox!   So actually, if the calendar days were to fall just right, Easter could happen as early as March 22nd.  That means that Easter always falls between March 22nd and April 25th.  That’s just how it works, due to the lunar cycle.  Once you find that next full moon, look for the Sunday that follows it and you will have found Easter Sunday as most of Christians (and a bunch of others) celebrate it. 

 

Enjoy the spirit of the season and your chocolate bunnies! 
Paula L. High