We will never celebrate Easter earlier
by Ana Watts
No one alive today has seen, or ever will see Easter any earlier than it is this year. So if it seemed a headlong rush from Epiphany into Lent without a minute to catch our breath, it was. Easter on March 23 is very early indeed.
March 22 is the earliest possible date for Easter, but it has not fallen on March 22 since 1818, and will not do so again until 2285. The next time it falls on March 23 is 2228 – 220 years from now. None of us will be around on either of these dates.
We have a good chance to celebrate Easter on the latest possible date of April 25, though. The last time it fell on that date was in 1943 and it will land on that day again in 2038, so there is even a possibility that some people alive in 1943 will get to celebrate that latest possible date twice. Chances are even better that many of us will be around to see Easter fall on April 24, the penultimate last possible date, in 2011.
Easter is celebrated the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, which usually falls on March 20 and occasionally on March 21.
Because the date of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, it moves around on our Roman calendar.
Rumour has it that the cycle of Easter dates repeats after exactly 5,700,000 years, with April 19 the most common of the 35 possible Easter dates. Easter falls on that date 220,400 times.
Every Easter is special, but the early date this year makes it extra special. Blessings to you and yours this Easter tide.
Diocesan Communications
18 March 2008
