Easter's timing is, well, elusive

Sunday’s Easter celebration approaches the middle point this year, edging into April. In fact, Easter can fall as early as March 22 and as late as April 25 in our Gregorian calendar. Why such a wide range?

With its pagan etymology, “Eostur” is a month of the Germanic year, and the name of a German pagan goddess associated with spring’s resurgence. The Old English “Eastre” developed around the ninth century and moves around so much, it can take millennia for the full cycle of dates to repeat.

The current (the Church has changed the methodology through the centuries) Western Christian practice is to place Easter on — take a deep breath — the first Sunday after the first 14th day of the moon following the spring equinox (the Paschal full moon).

Got it?

That was Western. The Eastern Orthodox churches use the Julian calendar, an older tradition since the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. They calculate Easter according to the astronomical full moon and the vernal equinox as observed along the meridian of Jerusalem.

Huh?

If that isn’t complicated enough, factor in the astronomical inaccuracy of the Julian calendar, which was off by 11 minutes per year (accruing 13 extra days) until it was revised in 1923 (now off by two seconds annually). So in order to stick to that original formula, Orthodox Easter cannot be celebrated before (our) April 3, which was March 21 in 325 A.D. Oh, and it can’t be before Passover, because Jesus’ final days did not occur until after Passover. Passover begins on the night/beginning of the 15th day of the month of Nissan, the first month of the Jewish calendar, which begins in spring.

The Gregorian calendar we use, even with our corrective leap years, is off by 27 seconds, accruing one day about every three millennia. If we want to be as accurate as possible, the closest is the Persian calendar, off by less than a second.

Even with all this, the exact date of Easter remains a topic for ecumenical debate unlikely to ever be resolved, as those in Jesus’ time did not record an exact date for the resurrection described in the Bible. So, much like His birth, no one is sure of the timing.

To make things more practical, the Eastern church came up with a 19-year cycle to calculate dates, and the Western, an 84-year cycle. Much easier for us non-astronomers to keep up.

Whatever its history or timing, this holiday blends both spiritual and earthly renewal — two beautiful reasons to celebrate.

•••

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.