I did not know this information....just wanted to share it.

[Faust Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Faust]

Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring
> Equinox (which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar
> calendar that Hebrew people used to identify passover, which is why it moves around
> on our Roman calendar.
>
> Here's the interesting info. This year is the earliest Easter any of us
> will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population
> have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above!). And none of us have
> ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! Here's the facts:
>
> 1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228
> (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're
> 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).
>
> 2) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year
> 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one
> alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

[hope54 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hope54]

And it is DD 21st birthday March 23!

Marilyn

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

What confuses me is how the Christian Church can have a fixed date for the birth of Christ when there is really absolutely no way of knowing, but a movable date for the death which should be possible to work out from historical records.
Bizarre!

[In the Pink Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close In the Pink]

I don't want to break any kind of religious discussion rules, but this is just informational, not argument, so to answer your question, that's because we know do know when he died.... it was at Passover, which is a moveable date.

As for the date of Christ's birth, first remember that early Christians WERE Jews. They were considered to be a sect of Judaism until they had to separate themselves from it in order to protect themselves. December 25 as Christmas came about due to a belief that seems to have been widespread in Judaism at the time of Christ, but which, as it is nowhere taught in the Bible, has completely fallen from the awareness of Christians. The idea is that of the “integral age” of the great Jewish prophets: the idea that the prophets of Israel died on the same dates as their birth or conception. By applying this notion to Jesus, as well as an early calculation of March 25th as the date of his death, this date came to be accepted as his conception.

It is to this day, commemorated almost universally among Christians as the Feast of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel brought the good tidings of a savior to the Virgin Mary, upon whose acquiescence the Eternal Word of God became incarnate in her womb. What is the length of pregnancy? Nine months. Add nine months to March 25th and you get December 25th. Therefore, December 25th as the birth of Christ was given to us by Judaism.

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

I'm not 'having a go' at religion, as I said I simply don't understand why a fixed date can't be identified. The death only occurred once so surely it's possible to work out when Passover was in that year and use that as the base date.
I don't have any issue with setting Easter around the 2nd Sunday in April (for example) as unlike Christmas Day, Good Friday really does need to fall on a Friday.

[In the Pink Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close In the Pink]

Actually, as I said, a fixed date for his death, has been determined (although argued by some, as is everything), But even if you're not intending to have a religious discussion, the answer IS religious because it is a religious feast, the whole point of which was Passover. Easter MUST be tied to Passover, rather than be celebrated on March 25, because to Christians, Christ WAS the Passover lamb. And, as you pointed out, if Good Friday obviously must be on a Friday, then the third day, the day on which he rose, has to be Sunday, and March 25 will fall on a different day of the week each year. Even celebrating the date, as you suggest, on the 2nd Sunday of April, would move it away from Passover and have no meaning. Besides, it wasn't an afterthought to determine when Easter was. The disciples were Jews. They continued to celebrate Passover, and followed by the resurrection, which eventually came to be called Easter. And that timing has never changed.

[Maggie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maggie]

Well here is a thought. When you think of EAster you think of Spring, Easter bunnies, flowers and everything is tied to Spring right? Even the Easter sermons have to do with resurrection and life renewing itself?

What about if you live in the Southern Hemisphere. Doesn't Easter than occur in the Fall. In South Africa and Australia and places like that isn't winter now approaching? Also their Christmas occurs in the middle of summer.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]