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Spring Holidays and the Moon
The Calendar >
You are undoubtedly aware that in this next week there are the celebrations of Passover and Easter. You may have noticed that they are not on the same dates as they were last year. Christmas, New Year’s, Independence Day - all the other big guys fall on the same dates year after year, but not these two.
You may also wonder why this phenomenon is being discussed in a column that deals primarily with the starry skies.
Well, these two days – high holidays for hundreds of millions of people throughout the world – set their dates on the movement of heavenly bodies, the sun and moon to be precise.
Passover is a celebration that goes back millennia, back to the days of Moses. The people of Israel were then slaves to the Egyptians, and God deemed it was the right time for Moses to get His people out of Dodge and into the Promised Land. Pharoah repeatedly balked at this divine decree and thus got himself in a heap of trouble, putting himself and his people on the receiving end of the now famous Ten Plagues.
The last plague had the Angel of Death taking the firstborn males of the Egyptians but “passing over” the houses of the Israelites, those that were marked with the blood of the lamb. The Jews were later to mark this memorable event, the beginning of the exodus, on their date of 15 Nisan. Now pay close attention, it can get a little complicated here.
Nisan is the 7th month of the Jewish calendar, a calendar that starts on 1 Tishri, better known as Rosh Hashana. That special New Year’s Day is defined as the first new moon after the autumn equinox. With me so far?
Now travel along with me 6 months down the road to the month of Nisan. That would be about 6 new moons later. At this point, add a couple weeks to get to 15 Nisan. That's Passover, which, being two weeks after a new moon, happens to be around a Full Moon.
Now just as Passover has its date determined by the sun and moon, so does Easter.
Easter, as we know, is the day Christians celebrate Jesus' resurrection from the dead. This is the highest of high holidays for them. Those who know the events of Jesus’ death know that he was in Jerusalem for the Passover when he was arrested and executed.
It is no coincidence that Passover and Easter fall so close to each other so often, with this year’s Easter just days after Passover.
The quick and dirty way to estimate which date Easter will fall on goes something like this: It's the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the spring equinox. You math people will figure out quickly that the spring equinox is 6 months after the autumn equinox, and the first full moon after that is very often - surprise! - Passover.
And this year that first Sunday after the first full moon falls on April 8.
But it's not so easy as this every year. The Christian church uses a loose formula for setting equinoxes and full moons. It is not as exacting a science as astronomy.
For example, in 1962, astronomical and church renderings didn’t exactly agree. Then, the precise moment of the Full Moon took place a mere 6 hours after the exact moment of the spring equinox, both on 21 March. So Easter should have taken place the next Sunday, right?
Wrong. The Church’s less exact formula had the Full Moon on the 20th, followed by their 21 March equinox. So, according to the rules, the next Full Moon after "equinox" wasn’t for another month, and Easter wasn’t celebrated until 22 April! Something similar happens next year, too.
Is the occasional discrepancy a big deal in the Big Scheme of Things? Of course not. Easter will be celebrated and there will be much rejoicing regardless of the exact date.
But again, can you see how the uncomplicated and seemingly innocuous events happening in the cold cosmos above, the simple movements of the sun and moon, can affect millions of humans on this beautiful rock we call Home? I love this place!
Happy Holidays!
Posted by Mark Ritter at 2007.04. 1 06:54 PM | Comments (0)
