Annual Easter Rant

 

Welcome to my annual rant about Easter.  It took a long time this year but the inevitable happened to me yesterday when somebody asked:  ‘when is Easter this year’, this was followed by the question: ‘is it early or late?  The answer to the latter question is always so unhelpful that I don’t know why it is asked.

Look, it is quite simple.  In the western Christian tradition Easter Sunday falls on the Sunday after the paschal full moon, which is the full moon that falls on or after the spring equinox meaning that Easter Sunday can fall between the 22nd March and the 25th April in the Gregorian calendar.  Of course this has a knock on and back effect on other festivals such Ash Wednesday and Whitsun.  For years I wondered what happened to the Whitsun half term, but having Easter on castors meant that it sometimes fell at times that were far from convenient for schools and their pupils.

Easter has always been problematic.  The current arrangements were worked out by the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE.

As I pointed out in my (much ignored) blog last year, an attempt was made to fix the date of Easter by the passing of the Easter Act 1928.  Although it successfully made it through Parliament and received the Royal Assent it has never been brought into force because it requires that ‘regard’ is given to the views of the Christian churches.  There have been various attempts at getting it enacted but waiting for the churches to adopt a common view is a long game.

There is a serious point here.  Religious festivals and their dates are a matter for members of faith groups, not for Parliament, and not for those who have no faith.  However, in accepting this point the idea that Churches, (and not just the established Church), can decide when public holidays fall is equally without merit.  People of faith should be free to celebrate their festivals as they believe is right, but the setting of public holidays is a matter for Parliament.  An early Spring Bank Holiday that may or may not coincide with Easter would be more appropriate in the 21st Century, or alternatively if Easter Day was fixed then the public holiday could fall on the same day.  Personally in a multi faith and no faith society I would prefer to see public holidays detached from faith ones.  The current situation is silly and reform is easy.

This year Palm Sunday falls on10th April, Good Friday falls on 15th April Easter Sunday on 17th April.  In other words it is a late (ish) Easter.  But of course if you had followed the calculation approved by the Council of Nicaea you would know this.   

I will find something to say about this again next year!

 

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