The Resurrection of Christ. Its a big deal, right? Of course it is. Despite this, I feel like Easter is an occasion that gets lost in the noise of Christian Culture. There is Christmas, and lent, and Palm Sunday, Easter, and many other major and minor feast days. Amongst these, Easter is just only day that comes and goes when more people then usual come to Church and get to have a big dinner. This is so wrong.
A couple times last week the question as to why the date of Easter was movable was brought up. My cousin asked in an email:
Why is calculation of Easter Sunday based on generic/basic astronomy? The first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox?
A few days later another friend remarked during dinner that she thought it was strange that the date for Easter was always different. “Why don’t they just celebrate it on the same day every year,” she said.
I realized that this might not be common knowledge for most people so I thought I would shed a little light on the topic, and sum up a very complicated story that’s led to today’s calculation of Easter.
