Is It Easter Yet?
It’s the last Sunday in March. That means it’s Easter. At least, this year it means it’s Easter. Next year the last Sunday in March will only mean that it’s the last Sunday in March. Easter will be some time in April. Easter is that flexible holiday that hops all over the calendar. No wonder a rabbit is a symbol of the celebration.
The date for Easter is determined by some convoluted formula, involving moon phases and the equinox, that forces the holiday to fall between March 22 and April 25. If the ancient world bishops who came up with the formula could make sure that Easter always fell within a five-week period, then it seems to me they could have just as easily (more easily) picked a Sunday. Any Sunday. They wouldn’t even have to lock down a date. Just pick a standard Sunday. Second Sunday in April? Last Sunday in March? Pick one already!
It would be one thing if Easter just floated on it’s own. But because Easter floats, Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, and Lent all float, too, because their dates depend on when Easter is. Apparantly the tradition of Easter egg hunts represent the hunt for Easter itself.
I knew that Easter’s date had something to do with the moon, but I also assumed it had something to do with the bible, rather than the whims of early clergy. In hindsight, I guess not. I don’t profess to know the bible well, but I don’t recall any passages saying that the the whole crucifixion, resurrection, ascention sequence happened specifically in the spring. All I remember being taught was that it occured over a three-day weekend starting on what is now Good Friday. Good Friday for us, perhaps. But for Jesus and the other two guys hammered to crosses, not so good. And what about those other two guys? No one ever talks about them. If there had been People Magazine at the time they would have been bumped from the cover and buried in the back because the son of God took the headlines. Good thing for the Christians that Ben and J-Lo were not an item yet.
So, why is Easter in the spring? Before it became a Christian holiday, Easter had been a long practiced pagan ritual celebrating rebirth and spring is the time of rejuvenation and rebirth. Then, how did Easter end up becoming less about mother earth and more aboutthe son of God? It turns out that in the middle ages as the Christians were growing their empire they realized would get more people on their side by absorbing the traditions of other cultures and turning them into their own. They took the story of the resurrection (a form of rebirth) and wrapped it around the spring pagan celebrations. (Is it any wonder that the U.S. government–a body often determined to imposing beliefs on other cultures– is controlled by the religious right?)
All this has led too a mish-mash of traditions that are as scattered as the date for Easter, as just as convoluted to work out. So in honor of the complexity of the holiday, I want to pass on a link to you all. As you may know, I am a big fan of David Sedaris, the essayist/humorist. In my favorite book of his “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” he talks about taking a French language class where he and classmates (of varied nationalties) attempt to explain Easter to another student using their very elementary French. This piece, “Jesus Shaves,” is one of my most favorite things he has written.
This Easter, instead of dyeing of eggs, try dying of laughter.
Listen to: Jesus Shaves
March 27th, 2005 at 9:46 am
The formula for determining Easter is:
The first sunday, after the first full moon, after the first day of spring.
March 27th, 2005 at 12:07 pm
Jick,
It is actually a little more complicated than that. That full moon is not the astrological full moon, which happens in nature. It’s an ecclesiastical full moon, that is determoned by a formula:
The following algorithm will compute the date of Easter in the Gregorian Calendar system.
The algorithm uses the year, y, to give the month, m, and day, d, of Easter. The symbol * means multiply.
Please note the following: This is an integer calculation. All variables are integers and all remainders from division are dropped.
c = y / 100
n = y – 19 * ( y / 19 )
k = ( c – 17 ) / 25
i = c – c / 4 – ( c – k ) / 3 + 19 * n + 15
i = i – 30 * ( i / 30 )
i = i – ( i / 28 ) * ( 1 – ( i / 28 ) * ( 29 / ( i + 1 ) )
* ( ( 21 – n ) / 11 ) )
j = y + y / 4 + i + 2 – c + c / 4
j = j – 7 * ( j / 7 )
l = i – j
m = 3 + ( l + 40 ) / 44
d = l + 28 – 31 * ( m / 4 )
Not making this up. Wouldn’t know how.
Tony
March 27th, 2005 at 2:59 pm
I love David Sedaris. And Me Talk Pretty One Day is the best book yet. Thanks for the link.
Happy Easter.
March 27th, 2005 at 5:40 pm
egg coloring looks fun.
but do you eat them later?
or just for design?
March 27th, 2005 at 7:31 pm
Thank goodness somebody else out there realizes that Easter used to be a pagan holiday: Eostre. Mentioning this got me booted from class in high school.
March 27th, 2005 at 11:14 pm
I’ve never seen anything cuter and sexier than a hot man (you) with the cutest bunny bouncing across your masthead in celebration of Easter. Absolutely darling, and makes me love you more.
March 28th, 2005 at 8:03 am
First, I strongly disagree with the government being controlled by the religious right. If that were the case I think things would be a lot worse because we would have humans speaking for God and that worked so well under the Holy Roman Empire, didn’t it?
Second, it’s true that Easter used to be a pagan holiday but was Christianized. You mention that you don’t know where in the Bible it states that Jesus was crucified, buried and rose on a spring weekend. The Bible states that it was Passover weekend that this occurred, which is in the spring. I’m with you on not understanding why Easter can’t be the same time every year.
March 28th, 2005 at 8:05 am
Also, I like that you think and have a sense of humor. You never fail to make me smile with your posts at either your humor or your thoughts.
March 28th, 2005 at 3:52 pm
Hey stud, yeah I remember reading about how Easter got chosen in the first place.. apparently, the Catholic Church is actually primarily based on the pagan religion in Rome prior to the rule of Constantine… he had a council gather in Nicaea to draft the Bible.. and that’s also where they came up with all the religious symbols like halos above angelic heads, the same symbols for Sun discs… and with the holidays like Easter and Christmas, which is actually the birthday of a couple pagan gods… since Jesus was actually born sometime in March…
I thought that was incredible to read!!
March 28th, 2005 at 6:30 pm
Who could have ever dreamed that a couple of horny roman soldiers doing a little grave robbing and necrophilia would cause a whole mass religious movement that would last over 2000 years?
March 31st, 2005 at 1:45 am
Make life simple for yourself — just celebrate the First Day of Spring. It floats too but in a much less dramatic way.
Besides the Vernal Equinox is the touchstone for pagans, Druids, Christians, Mithrians, Zorastrians, and — most important of all –the Farmers Almanac. That was my Grandfather’s real bible, the one that told him when to start planting to get the longest growing season with the best chances of avoiding frost.
That simple fact is what lies behind all that other bull (compost).
April 6th, 2005 at 2:00 am
Wow Tony you’re hot and utterly brilliant, first time I’ve ever seen anyone in a gay blog mention Eostre and the Gregorian formula for predetermining Easter!
Amazing! You’re hot and you rock! Glad Påsk!
Phil