Friday, March 21, 2008

Easter Facts

I got this in an email today and thought it was pretty interesting! I've been wondering about Easter being so early this year, but hadn't taken the time to look it up. So, if you've been wondering too...here ya go!

Easter is early this year. 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. Based on the above, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare.

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 are the facts:

· 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!).

· 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 a day earlier, was March 22, 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

Cool, huh?!

3 Comments:

  1. Leah Marie said...
    I knew there was some matter of complicated rule related to spring, but I didn't remember exactly what it was, and I had no idea how rare it was to have Easter this early. I feel like I'm a part of history now, or something...
    Anna said...
    Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. It does feel a little weird to have Easter this early, although the weather feels like it should have been Easter a few weeks ago. :)
    Rae said...
    Cool/weird! Thanks for sharing.

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