Why Does the Death and Resurrection of Christ Fall On a Different Day Every Year.

[Solomon]

We know the day JFK was assassinated and died, and every year it never changes. The same with Martin King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy. Yet every year, the day of Christ's death changes. Sometimes it's even celebrated in different months. Sometimes in March, sometimes in April.

Why is that?

[xultar]

1. His birth was in April too.

[soothsayer]

12. I thought it was September

[xultar]

14. The documentaries I've seen say April...but hey they could be wrong.

[JetCityLiberal]

22. September

[PsN2Wind]

2. Easter is on the Sunday

after the first full moon following the vernal equinox

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. It ties both the sun and the moon into the calendar

Unlike normal anniversaries, which go purely on the movement of the earth round the sun, it involves the relative orbit of the moon round the earth too. More inclusive of astrological beliefs, I suppose.

[baldguy]

4. Easter is geared to the lunar calander.

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

[Demeter]

5. And Passover

Since that was when Good Friday events unfolded

[baldguy]

8. Because Jesus was a Jew celebrating Passover.

[hobbit709]

6. Because it has nothing to do

with reality or fact. Look at the realitionship between Passover and Easter. The Jewish Calendar was based on lunar cycles. The calendar nowadays is more or less based on a solar cycle.

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. The dating of Easter was a huge political mess, that's why

As the first Christian holy day, it's dating was of vital importance to early Christians. Quite literally, wars were fought over when it would be observed.

Basically, there were two main factions, both with two main sub-factions. The first group insisted on dating Easter based on the date of Passover in the Jewish Calendar. Passover starts on 15 Nisan at sunset (days in the Jewish calendar run from sunset to sunset) which is usually the full moon after the spring equinox (in leap years, it falls one full moon latter.) One of the sub-factions claimed that 15 Nisan would commemorate the Last Supper and arrest, 16 Nisan the crucifixion and 18 Nisan the Resurrection; these are the dates according to the Jewish Calendar that match the account given in the Gospels. The other sub-faction wanted to relate Easter to Passover, but adjust it so that Easter always occured on a Sunday, which by now served as the weekly commemoration of the Resurrection.

The other main faction was strongly anti-Jewish, and demanded an independent system of dating that prevented Easter from being "polluted" from any taint of Passover. The sub-factions here were between those who wanted a fixed date, such as March 25, and those who wanted to keep Easter on a Sunday.

In the end, after considerable debate and even bloodshed, the dating of Easter was set as a compromise between the two main factions. Easter would occur on the Sunday which followed the full moon after the spring equinox, except when that placed Easter on the first, second or eighth day of Passover (when Jews keep special observances), in which case Easter would be postponed a week to prevent the two festivals from coinciding. Latter, this was formulaized into a "golden number" system which used a calculated full moon instead of the astronomical full moon; this created greater uniformity across the Christian world and guaranteed that Easter always fell on the same day.

The difference in dating Easter between the Eastern Christianity (Orthodox) and Western Christianity (Catholic and Protestant) has to do with western churches using the Gregorian calendar to date religious observances while eastern churches continue to use the Julian calendar.

[Richard D]

9. Great explanation

I knew a bit of that but not about the fighting and differences in calendars.

[TRYPHO]

17. I should add one aspect to this...

The date of Passover being set at the 15th Nissan was fixed, but still needed precise clarification because although the astronomers could tell when the new moon should start a new month the Sanhedrin and the Babylonian Yeshivot plus the European diaspora required actual hard physical proof each month - luckily all the Jewish festival start after the 10th of the month, so there was always plenty of time to have this proof confirmed and get word sent round the world as to when EXACTLY the new moon had started. However, since there were occasions when the system (flares to babylon and Egypt), runners (boat or horses) to Europe were stopped by fair means or foul, the most important festivals, just to be on the safe side, were given a two-day spread outside of Israel. Thus diaspora Jews celebrate two days of Pesach and Rosh Hashanah even though only one is now technically required (subject to satellite failure!).

Anyway, just thought you might find that interesting too.

Oh, and my last au-pair from Slovakia celebrated Xmas on December 24th.

TRYPHO

[madrchsod]

10. he did`t die as wrtten

and of course he was`t resurrected. it`s just a guess when he died

[Red Zelda]

11. Because it never really happened?

[Freedom_from_Chains]

13. Because nobody knows the exact date

It is all completely arbitrary. It was that many years ago that they had to move his birth up by 5 or 6 years.

[cain_7777]

15. Maybe its because he never existed...

Just maybe, its because man decided thats the best time for the story to take place.

[struggle4progress]

16. Because Easter is a moveable feast.

[kiahzero]

18. Because it's a ritual, not the actual event. (n/t)

[Zhade]

19. Mythological events are flexible like that.

NT!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. It's according to the lunar calendar

The Last Supper was a Passover seder. The Eastern Orthodox insist that Easter has to come after Passover, while the Western Christians do not, so in some years, the Eastern and Western churches celebrate Easter on different days.

[NAO]

21. The Story of the SUN of God doesn't fit our calendars exactly.

The whole resurrection story is a myth about the seasons.

At the Spring Equinox the Sun intersects, that is to say "CROSSES" the celestial equator, and life, which had "DIED and remained dead" for (you guessed it!) THREE months, is resurrected.

The Sun actually "DIES" - that is to say it CROSSES into it's lowest position in the sky - around the last week of December, and then it is "BORN" - it starts it's ascent in the sky on December 25.

And that is the story of the Sun of God. Sounds familiar, eh?

Achyra S "Truth Be Known" - ASTROTHEOLOGY
http://www.truthbeknown.com/index101.htm

[Felix Mala]

23. 1st Sunday after 1st Full Moon of Vernal Equinox...

Vernal Equinox (first day of Spring) is March 20. A full moon on that day, means the next Sunday is Easter. If the full moon is on March 19, the next chance 28 days later.

Therefore, Easter has to occur sometime between March 21 and April 18. (If I counted correctly.)