Ever wondered how they calculate the date that Easter falls on? Enjoy being utterly confused? Click here. Here are some highlights:
1) In the Western method, Easter now falls on the first Sunday after the 14th day of the lunar month that falls on or after the vernal Equinox. The 14th day of a lunar month is the full moon, the vernal equinox is March 21, so it means "Easter falls on the first Sunday after the full moon that falls on or after the 21st of March."
2) The Christian church doesn't use the actual moon, but a "reckoned ecclesiastical moon." I assume they do this because the moon is not full all over the world at the same time.
3) Churches in the East, that didn't switch to the Gregorian calendar, usually celebrate on a different Sunday.
4) The Jews use a completely different method, but I don't know why it matters to them anyway. "Some guy who was not the son of God didn't rise from the dead on this day... Let's celebrate!"
5) There are three algorithms and two tabular methods listed in the article for the computation of Easter.
6) The tables and algorithms are not needed to calculate Easter, but are necessary to calculate when the "Ecclesiastical Full Moon" occurs.
7) A reform was put forth by the World Council of Churches to base Easter on ACTUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE ACTUAL MOON (how absurd, basing it on the ACTUAL moon?) that was set to begin in 2001, when both Easters occured on the same Sunday. This was turned down, because it went along with the western date for 20 Easters but required that those using the eastern method change dates after their first Easter. The Eastern churches saw this as an outright imposition of a Western viewpoint and refused to END THE MADNESS.
6) All of this calculation is meant to give an exact date for Christ's resurrection. By this exact method Easter can fall anywhere from March 22nd to April 25th.
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