Most of us know it as Easter Sunday, but one of the laypeople at my last church loved referring to it as Resurrection Sunday.  After all it is what we are celebrating on that day.  It is just a few weeks away, but it is one of those holy days that moves around on us, unlike Christmas.  Just how is the date for Easter figured out?  I asked just such a question to our students on Wednesday and they had no clue, except for two in the back (that also happened to be my children.)  One of the members of Preston Wesleyan sent this to me yesterday and it explains first, how the date is figured out and then second, how rare and early date for Easter is this year.

How early is Resurrection Sunday this year…

Easter is always the 1st Sunday following the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox. That full moon is on March 20th this year, making Resurrection Sunday March 23.

This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar which the 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 rarely happens.

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, those of us who are 95 years old or above!

Here are the facts:

1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228, which is (220 years from now).  The last time it was this early was 1913.

2) 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 on March 22 was the year 1818. So, no one alive today, has or will EVER see it any earlier than this year!