This editorial first appeared as a column in the March, 25, 2005 edition of The Citizen:
It's Easter, the season of miracles and rebirth, starting with the divine mystery of how Easter Sunday flips and flops around the calendar between March 22 and April 25 each year.
According to an excellent explanation from the astronomical application department of the U.S. Naval Observatory, the rules that determine when Easter falls in our current Gregorian calendar were originally drafted during Roman times with some later tweaking.
You may have heard the general guideline that Easter is on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox, the moment when winter becomes spring. That's a good rule of thumb but it's a little bit more complicated than that, largely due to the complexity of time zones and lunar cycles.
For example, the Easter edict dictates that the vernal equinox is always March 21, even though in many parts of the world, including Prince George, it was March 20 this year. Chalk one up to time zones. The vernal equinox happens at one specific moment everywhere in the world, but at different times, depending on where you are. Got it?
Now the first full moon after March 21 to determine the proper Sunday for Easter is not the astronomical full moon but the ecclesiastical full moon. What's the difference? The ecclesiastical full moon is 14 days after the new moon, which may not always coincide exactly with the astronomical full moon.
So that's how you get the late Easter of April 23 in 2000, March 27 in 2005, April 16 in 2006 and a March 23 Easter in 2008.
There's even an algorithm, if you're wired that way, so you can figure out Easter Sunday from now until the end of time, so long as our descendants keep using the Gregorian calendar.
The irony is that Easter Sunday, the holiest of days on the Christian calendar, marking the day Christ rose from the dead, is a symbolic date chosen with some pagan-sounding formula based around the spring equinox and a full moon. Still, it's important to remember Christ's sacrifice is what counts and not get caught up splitting hairs over exact dates.
Still, it would be nice if Easter was fixed each year, like say the first Sunday of spring, which would make this year's Easter a proper one and next year's April 16 Easter three weeks late. There seems to be no reason for moving the date around that hasn't been lost to antiquity other than tradition, a powerful reason all its own.
To make a change, we'd need to get the Jewish faith on board, too. Passover also hops, skips and jumps around the spring calendar. While it often falls a few days before Easter, as it did in 2002 and 2003, the first day of Passover in 2005 was April 22, almost a month after Easter.
That reminds me of a time while at university in Ottawa when my Jewish pal Linda and I went to a Catholic wedding around this time of year to provide some encouragement for our mutual friend Anne-Marie who had been roped into bridesmaid duties. I encouraged Linda to go up and accept communion.
"C'mon, it's kosher. That's unleavened bread being handed out."
At the last minute, she decided to sit while I, ignoring my blasphemy, went up the aisle and accepted the host.
Whatever date it falls, whether it's Easter or Passover, it's about forgiveness and new beginnings.
So happy spring, everyone.
