• When is Easter?
• Why does the date of Easter move?
• When is the Easter Season?
• What took place on Easter Sunday, about 2000 years ago?
• What happens on Easter Sunday today?
• What are the connections with Passover and Easter?
• What other names are there for Easter?

When is Easter?

Easter usually comes in the month of April. However, Easter can fall as early as March 22 or as late as April 25.

Easter Day in 2014 falls on Sunday 20 April.

Why does the date of Easter move?

Easter is called a moveable feast because the date of Easter changes every year. Easter Sunday can fall on any date from 22 March to 25 April.

The reason for this variation in the date of Easter is based on the lunar calendar (moon) rather than our more well-known solar one.

Easter always falls on the first Sunday following the full Moon (the Paschal Full Moon) after 21 March. If the Full Moon falls on a Sunday then Easter is the next Sunday.

When is the Easter Season?

The Easter Season begins on Easter Day and lasts 50 days, ending on Pentecost.

What happened on Easter Sunday?

It was on Easter Sunday that Jesus rose from death. Jesus had told his disciples before he was arrested that he would be crucified and on the third day he would rise from the dead. Sunday was the third day from Good Friday (Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Day). The second day after Good Friday.

What has Passover got to do with Easter?

Easter and Passover always fall close to each other but they are not always at exactly the same time.

For many centuries before Jesus' birth, the Jewish people had their own special spring festival, called Passover (Pesach).

Passover commemorates the time when God rescued the people of Israel from slavery and Moses led them out of Egypt. It is the Israelite's liberation from Egypt that led to the beginning of Judaism.

Jesus, a Jew, was crucified during Passover time and it is said that the Last Supper was a Passover seder (a ritual meal that commemorates the Biblical accounting of the Jews escape from Egyptian slavery). It is Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection that led to the start of Christianity.

Both Easter and Passover revolve around the idea of rebirth. Jesus is resurrected, or born again, and the slaves are reborn into freedom. Both festivals draw in the idea of birth or rebirth with Easter eggs and the hard-boiled eggs served on Passover.

What are the different names for Easter?

In many European languages the name Easter comes from the word Passover.

Pascha in Greek and Latin,
Pasqua in Italian,
Paques in French,
Pascua in Spanish

Find out why we give Easter Eggs and other Easter Egg Customs

• What is Easter?
• What is the Easter Story?
• Where does the name "Easter" come from?

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