Have you ever wondered why Easter's date changes?
It's called a "movable feast". A movable feast is a "holy day" which is not fixed according to the calendar but moves in response to the date of Easter. Such days include Good Friday, which is set two days before Easter.
Why does Easter move? The First Council of Nicaea, which was a council of bishops in 325 AD who were attempting to sort out issues with dates and such in Christianity, declared it to be so. The Christians had generally just asked their Jewish neighbors which days it was, since it was at the same time as Passover, one of their own festivals. However, some Christians felt that the Jewish calendar was unorganized and inaccurate.
The council decided to create their own, independent calculations to determine the date of Easter. The holiday was declared to be the first Sunday after the full moon following the Northern Hemisphere's vernal equinox, the beginning of Spring. Ecclesiastically, the vernal equinox is on March 21, although it actually occurs on March 20 most years. The date of Easter, therefore, varies between March 22 and April 25.
Happy Easter, everybody!!!!!!
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