Why Does Easter’s Date Always Change?

 

This upcoming weekend brings Easter for 2021, the one holiday wherein you have a legitimate reason to be waiting for the last minute to do your shopping for the simple reason that it has no fixed date. So, why is this?

As far as holidays go, they generally have a set date. Independence Day is always July 4 and Christmas is always December 25 (unless you’re Orthodox, then it’s January 7 for you). Another time fixing method goes for Thanksgiving, which is always the 4^th Thursday of November, meaning that, while its date changes year to year, it’s always at the end of the month. And then there’s Easter, which can float from late March to late April. So what gives?

Blame the Moon.

The formula for determining the date of Easter is as follows: Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Spring Equinox. Still, though, you may still be asking why the holiday doesn’t have a fixed date because, after all, Christ only rose from the dead on one day, which leads many to ask why we celebrate the anniversary of His rising different days every year.

Well, blame the Moon (and the historical record) again.

As hard as it is to believe today in a world where Christianity is the world’s largest religion, it was anything but 2000 years ago. Thanks to the lack of historical records, we do not know for certain the years (let alone the dates) when Jesus was born and died. The only concrete reference we have as to when Jesus died was that it is well documented that He was crucified while in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, a Jewish holiday whose date is set by the lunar calendar.

In its first 3 centuries as an underground religion, there was no real central authority for Christians on matters of religion. Result: different churches celebrated Easter on different dates, most often either on Passover itself or the Sunday immediately after. It was not until the Roman Emperor Constantine became a Christian and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire that there was uniformity on matters of religion. It was only then that Easter was fixed as the Sunday following Passover.

As for some trivia, the earliest Easter was in 1818, when the Full Moon fell on the Equinox (a Saturday), and Easter was the following Sunday, March 22. The next time this will happen: 2285. The latest Easter was in 1943, when the Full Moon was the day before the Spring Equinox, which meant that another full lunar cycle did not result in another Full Moon until Sunday, April 18, which led to an Easter on the latest possible date: April 25. This will next happen in 2038.

On top of all the date shifting, Orthodox churches use the old Julian Calendar for determining religious holidays, which means that Western and Eastern Easter often fall on different dates, as they do this year. The next time both Easters sill sync up: 2025. 

 

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What Time Is It? Time to Stop Changing the Clocks?

 

The United States has just completed its first half of the twice a year time change headache as we sprang forward an hour into Daylight Savings Time, unless you live in Hawaii or Arizona, in which there is no DST. For many people, the twice a year ritual involves a lot of complaining, forgetting, and possibly getting to a Sunday morning destination at the wrong time.

Wouldn’t it be nice if this could all just go away?

Well, in a rare show of bipartisanship, the Sunlight Protection Act has been reintroduced to the Senate as of last week. First proposed by Florida’s Republican Senator Marco Rubio, the bill would eliminate the twice a year time change by making spring forward permanent, as in putting the entire country (with a caveat-more on that later) on DST, permanently.

See also: Europe Grapples With Time Change Gripes

In a statement, Rubio called the twice a year time change “antiquated” and observed that there is increasing support for ending the time change. Rubio also said that the benefits of extended evening daylight would include less car crashes, less winter depression, and more “stability” to families.

While he probably does not agree with Rubio on much, Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey also supports the bill, saying that year long DST could “improve public health, public safety, and mental health - especially important during this cold and dark COVID winter.”

Other signed-on sponsors of the bill are Senators James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Mississippi, and Rick Scott, R-Florida.

Also speaking on the bill, Whitehouse noted that “Americans' lifestyles are very different than they were when Daylight Saving Time began more than a century ago,” before adding permanent DST will
“give families more daylight hours to enjoy after work and school.”

Both of those points are pretty hard to argue with.

On top of bipartisan support in the Senate, 15 states: Arkansas, Alabama, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, have passed their own laws/resolutions/voter initiatives calling for permanent DST. The problem: only federal law can change/end the time change, which means that the state statutes are void without a federal go-ahead.

As for the caveat mentioned earlier, the Sunlight Protection Act would not apply to places that currently don't observe DST (Arizona and Hawaii).

On the other hand, opponents of year-long DST voice concerns about delayed daylight during the winter having the potential to cause more car crashes on the front end of the day, which also coincides with the start of the school day. On the other hand, supporters of all-year DST will argue that most schools already start their classes before sunrise (at least during winter) and it’s rare for children to be hit by motorists on the way to school even now.

Should we go permanent DST? Well, in the effort of doing something that may actually bring the country together for a change, it may be worth a go.

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