Easter
What is Easter
Feast of the Resurrection. It celebrates the resurrection of Jesus,
which according to Christian belief happened on the third day after
his crucifixion. In the Roman Catholic Church, Easter is an eight-day
feast called the Octave of Easter.Click
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When is Easter
The date of Easter is based on the Jewish Passover, the Last Supper
is considered generally to be a feast related to Passover. In the
pre-Nicea church Easter was celebrated on all sorts of different
dates and there was an effort to pull it together. However it was
and always will be a "moveable feast" which is to say
that, unlike Christmas, it occurs on a different date each year.
The Rules for Easter dates:
It has to be on a Sunday and the precise rule is that it falls
on the first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon
that occurs on or after March 21 (the equinox). And this ecclesiastical
full moon is the 14th day of a tabular lunation (new moon).
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| Year |
Date |
| 2010 |
April 4th |
| 2011 |
April 24th |
| 2012 |
April 8th |
| 2013 |
March 31st |
| 2014 |
April 20th |
| 2015 |
April 5th |
| 2016 |
March 27th |
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ideas around this time
In Western Christianity, Easter always falls on a Sunday from March
22 to April 25 inclusive. In Eastern Christianity a slightly different
formula is followed and Easter falls between April 4 and May 8 using
the Gregorian calendar.
| Year |
Date |
| 2017 |
April 16th |
| 2018 |
April 1st |
| 2019 |
April 21st |
| 2020 |
April 12th |
| 2021 |
April 4th |
| 2022 |
April 17th |
| 2023 |
April 9th |
| 2024 |
March 31st |
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ideas around this time.
The Easter Bunny
According to Bede "Eosturmonath, which is now interpreted as
the paschal month, was formerly named after the goddess Eostre,
and has given its name to the festival." However since this
goddess is not recorded prior to Bede, it has been suggested that
he invented her for his own purposes. On the other hand the April
lunar month in the Anglo-Saxon calendar was called Eostur so perhaps
it was just a confusion.
It has also been suggested that the Easter Bunny comes from the
"Ostern Hare", although the link between this and the
putative goddess is pure speculation. That speculation was made
by Jacob Grimm (one of the Brothers Grimm) so the idea had a lot
of backing behind it. Since many of the Grimm fairy stories have
turned from nasty tales into sweet chldren’s stories, why shouldn’t
the Ostern Hare have become the Easter Bunny?
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