Sunday brings Easter on almost the earliest possible date.
The last time Easter fell on March 23 was 1913; the next time will be 2160.
Because Easter, the annual celebration by Christians of Jesus' resurrection, falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon of the spring equinox, the earliest possible date is March 22, which occurred in 1818 and will come around again in 2285.
According to information provided by Web sites dealing with calendars, the reason for Easter being tied to the equinox and the moon cycle, known as the Paschal Full Moon, is to keep the holiday in spring, just as Leap Years adjust for the solar year's 365.25 days.
From 31 A.D. to 325 A.D., when the Council of Nicaea met, was celebrated either on the first day of the Jewish Passover, no matter what day of the week that occurred, or on a Sunday close to the beginning of Passover. There was no consistency.
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Easter is linked to the Passover not only for much of its symbolism of Christ as the sacrificial lamb, but also because the Last Supper shared by Jesus and his disciples before his crucifixion is thought of as a Passover meal.
From 326 A.D. to 1582 A.D., Easter Sunday was based on the Julian calendar, which Julius Caesar brought back from Egypt and instituted in 46 B.C. Pope Gregory XIII authorized Vatican astronomers and mathematicians to work out a more accurate calendar. The Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar in October 1582. To align the spring equinox on March 20 with spring, Pope Gregory dropped 10 days from Oct. 5 to Oct. 14, 1582 and instituted Leap Year. Many places continued to use the Julian calendar, with England and America switching to the Gregorian in 1752.
Greek Orthodox Easter, which is based on a version of the Julian calendar, falls on Gregorian calendar April 27 and Julian calendar April 14 this year.
Passover starts at sundown April 19 because days in the Hewish calendar begin and end at sundown. Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew, commemorates the Hebrews' exodus from slavery in Egypt. The holiday lasts seven days in Israel and among Reform Jews, and eight days elsewhere around the world. It begins on the 15th day of Nisan, which is the seventh month in the Jewish calendar. It ends on the 21st of Nisan in Israel (and for Reform Jews) and on the 22nd of Nisan elsewhere.
The Jewish calendar is based on coordinates the rotation of the Earth about its axis, the revolution of the moon about the Earth and the revolution of the Earth about the sun. The On the Jewish calendar, months have either 29 or 30 days, corresponding to the lunar cycle. Years are either 12 or 13 months, corresponding to the solar cycle. Consequently, Passover also shifts around each spring. It started at sundown April 2, 2007 and will start at sundown April 9, 2009.
