Interesting factoids about the date of Easter

My friend Brianna emailed some intersting facts about Easter, and since I'd already posted on that, thought I'd add them. It's kind of a wow type of thing when you think of it. Who knew?


"This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above).

None of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! Here's the facts:

1. The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 orolder, you are the only ones that were around for that!).


2. The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!"

~Thanks, Brianna!

An Answer to Easter

I was at a dinner gathering and someone asked, "How do they come up with the date for Easter because sometimes it's in April and sometimes it's in March?"

I found this answer at The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod page. The short of it is that it is based on a decision determined by the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325: "the churches of the world finally got together and agreed on this rule: Easter Day shall always fall on the Sunday after the first full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox." The article goes on to say that this opened it's own can of worms because which calendar do you use to determine when that first full moon after the Spring Equinox actually occurs? The one used by Eastern Orthodox churches or the one used by Western Orthodox religions? There's a mathematical algorithm you can use to determine the date (as used by Western religions), but I'll let you go to the site to enjoy figuring that out.

Interesting, though, eh?