Why does Easter fall on different dates each year?

Question

Why does Easter fall on different dates each year?

Answer 1

The date for Easter varies each year because the phases of the moon vary each month and year. The timing of the holiday is determined by the date of the first full moon AFTER the vernal equinox on March 20. The first Sunday AFTER that full moon is always Easter Sunday. This year, the moon was full on the weekend of Palm Sunday, April first. That is why yesterday was Easter Sunday. Next year, because 2008 is a leap year, Easter will be sometime in the middle of the month of April- and it will be much less likely that we will see a "white" Easter like we did this year. What does this question have to do with horse racing or horses themselves?

Answer 2

I concur with Dressage Girl...  this has nothing to do with horse racing...

but Easter falls on different dates because it has to be a Sunday.  Sundays all have different dates every year...  all the dates take turns being Sundays...  so Easter can't have a fixed date or else it wouldn't fall on Sunday.

Answer 3

Ummmmm...... Why is this in Horse Racing?????

Answer 4

Because Easter falls in Passover which is the first week in April in the U.S. So therefore Easter is on the second Sunday. They could have made it a certain day but I guess they don't know exactly the date Jesus died and rose again.

Answer 5

Something to do with the moon tables & such.  Why is this query in Horse Racing?  Oh well, Happy Easter, anyway!

Answer 6

To confuse people like you who aren't bright enough to post in the correct area. This is for horse racing, not inane questions unrelated to the horse or racing. Good luck figuring out when Easter is next year. By the way, can you tell when Easter Monday is?

Answer 7

Check out this link!  It explains it perfectly.

Answer 8

it goes on the weekday of the month every year,,

Answer 9

Because it want's to get away from you! So it goes on different days of the year so you loose track!

Just Kidding... otherwise I don't know. 8^)

--melissa--

R.I.P. Barbaro♥

Answer 10

It's what's known as a moveable feast.

In Christianity, a moveable feast or movable feast is a holy day—a feast or a fast—whose date is not fixed to a particular day of the calendar year but moves in response to the date of Easter, the date of which varies according to a complex formula.

The ecclesiastical rules are:

Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after March 21 (the day of the ecclesiastical vernal equinox).

This particular ecclesiastical full moon is the 14th day of a tabular lunation (new moon).