( I havent calculated these myself to verify, but I assume that whoever worked it out is correct!)
Easter this year is Sunday March 23 2008
As you may know Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20).
This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.
Based on the above Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare.
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!). And none of us have ever or will ever see it a day earlier!
Here are the facts:
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 or older you are the only ones that were around for that!).
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!
David Bennett
Jennifer
asimplesinner
Fr. J.
Chad T.
Jorge Flores
Jonathan B
carmelbennett
nicenehobbit
Jason S
jaybird68
papaz
Dave Hartline
faceman
Thanks, explains why Epiphany seemed breathtakingly short this year? Were we alone in feeling that Ash Wednesday came so fast it caught almost everyone by surprise? Holy Week in mid-March too. Seems to almost guarantee a white one for many northerners. It’s a plot, I tell you!
This post kind of reminds me of my own mortality! Very interesting.
Bishop Fick, Imagine how us Greek Catholics felt (well those of us who use the Gregorian Calendar anyway), St. Philips fast ended, then what felt like 2 weeks later it was Meatfare!
So why don’t Easter and the Jewish Passover fall at the same time every year? Have the Jews changed the way they calculate it?
A couple of years ago, I went to a Jewish Seder that fell on Holy Thursday – deeply moving! — but this year the Jewish Passover doesn’t begin until April 20.
Howcome?