When is Easter 2021? In 2021, Easter Sunday falls on Sunday, April 4, a week earlier than last year’s April 12th. For many people in the UK, this should fall early on the school holidays, and this year’s celebration should be a mid-weekend break. The holiday can be held on any day between March 22 and April 25, with Easter last year being held on April 21, the latest since 2011.
The Easter holidays of last year were drastically changed by the outbreak of coronavirus, which closed UK schools and disrupted carefully laid tourism plans. It has left families frustrated by the lockdown in the 2021 holidays, when the restrictions would hopefully no longer be in place. The following year, however, began with Covid cases rising around the UK, with the introduction of new nationwide closure measures that once again questioned the holiday season.
Easter Day changes from year to year, which means the holidays can sneak up on you, so make sure you are prepared here for the fall of 2021, and how the process for calculating Easter Sunday works.
What is Easter?
Easter is a very important holiday in the Christian calendar. Commonly observed from the earliest days of Sunday, Easter celebrates the resurrection of Christ from the ■■■■, following the crucifixion. It marks the end of Holy Week, the end of Lent, and the last day of Easter Triduum (from the evening of Maundy on Thursday, to Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday), and the beginning of Easter in the service year.
The resurrection represents the victory over good over evil, sin, death, and the physical body.
Where did the word Easter come from?
Easter, also called Resurrection Sunday, is a holiday that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from the ■■■■.
Let us start with the Pascha (Latin), which comes directly from Pesach, a Hebrew term meaning Passover. Returning to the Hebrew Bible and the subject of the first Passover, Moses tells the Israelites to slaughter a Passover lamb and to splash its blood on their doorways. The Lord protected the Israelites from death by passing over their doors and would not allow a destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down.
In the New Testament (1 Corinthians 5: 7), Paul links the resurrected Christ with the Passover. He refers to Jesus as the Passover lamb sacrificed for the salvation of his people. Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples at Passover time, so it seems logical that the Feast of the Resurrection was to be a Jewish holiday. Today, Christians celebrate the “mystery of the Paschal.”
So, where did the word “Easter” come from? The origin of the word “Easter” is unclear. It is not easy to say that you have a religious background or a pagan origin.
Some historians suggest that it came from hebdomada alba, a Latin word meaning “white church,” which was used to describe the white robes worn by new Christians at their baptism on Holy Sunday. In Old German, the name became esostarum and, eventually, Easter.
Venerable Bede, a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon historian also known as Santa Bede, insists that the name Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, also the goddess of dawn, who came from what is now Scandinavia. In time, early Christians started to refer to the Feast of the Resurrection as the name of the month that was celebrated, Eosturmonath (now April).
Alternatively, the Easter may be derived from the old German word for “east,” which is also derived from the Latin word for “dawn.” In the past, the word easter did not mean “to turn east” or “to rise” and had no religious significance.
Note: It was the Germans who founded the “Easter Bunny” who visited the homes of the “beautiful” children, just as they founded Santa Claus.
Below, no one knows the etymological origin of the word, “Easter.” It is one of the oldest words in ancient English.
Summary: It does not matter whether the Easter comes from the goddess of the dawn or the Latin word for dawn. In any language, Easter today is a Christian holiday that celebrates the resurrection of Christ, a reminder that death brings life.
What is the Paschal Full Moon?
The term “Paschal,” as used in the religious calendar (Christian church), is derived from “Pascha,” an Aramaic word meaning “Passover.”
With reference to the full Moon, Paschal refers to the date of the full Moon determined many years ago as the 14th day of the month. Ancient calculations (dated 325 A.D.) did not take into account any movement of the moon.
Thus, Paschal Full Moon is the 14th day of the month that occurs on or after March 21 according to the established set of religious calendar rules, which does not always coincide with the day of the full moon star near the astronomical spring equinox.
Sounds complicated, but the basic idea is to make it easier to calculate the date of today’s calendars. Be sure to keep the Passover count in advance.
How do we work out when Easter will be?
Easter Day is calculated from the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring equinox in March. The reason for this is that Easter should be held after the Biblical Passover, in the full moon, when Jesus was crucified. Next year the equinox will take place on its usual day of March 20, with the next full month on March 28, the Sunday before the week before Easter. The decision on how and when the Passover should be observed each year was made by the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, the first church council.
The reason behind Easter on a different date each year
The main reason why Easter falls on a different date each year is because we now use a solar calendar, Gregory’s rather than a lunar calendar. This means that the full moon appears on different dates of each year, and therefore so does Easter. Greg Brown, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said that Easter is based on the seven-day church and the lunar cycle.
“The equinox of March is the day when the sun sets from the southern hemisphere in the sky to the northern hemisphere marking the beginning of spring.
“The day and night of an equinox are about the same size. Since a calendar year (365 days) or a lunar cycle (29.5 days) is not evenly spaced by a seven-day week, Easter Sunday may move irregularly to the moon, from mid-March to late April.”
Why do different churches celebrate Easter on different days?
The Eastern (Greek and Slavic) Churches and the Eastern Churches (Syrians, Armenians, Coptic Egyptians and Ethiopians) continued to use the Julian Calendar, named after Julius Caesar, even after Europe adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1582.
That is why Easter is still so closely associated with the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches in Catholicism and other western churches. Easter is always celebrated by all Christians at unusual times when the two calendars coincide.
Easter last took place on the same day last year in both Christian Churches in 2017, but this will not happen again until 2034.
How Is the Date of Easter Determined?
According to the Fourth Century resolution, Easter Day is set for the first Sunday following Paschal Full Moon, the first full Moon of spring, which takes place just after the Spring Equinox. March 22 is the first Easter to be celebrated in any year, and April 25 is the latest. If that first full moon of the Moon appears on Sunday, Easter will be observed the following Sunday.
Astronomers can tell us precisely the exact moment when the Moon will arrive facing the Sun that will mark you as the full Moon. However, the Church follows its own procedures in determining when the Moon turns. One important factor is the so-called “Golden Number.” A small arcane series of calculations that finally gives the date of the Passover. Of course, sometimes, the day of the full moon does not coincide with the day given by astronomy.
What is the Golden Number?
Students often ask about the golden number, which was traditionally used in calculating the date of the Easter.
The Golden Number is the number used to indicate the days of the new moons each year, following a 19-year cycle.
The Moon repeats the days of its phases almost every 19 years (Metonic cycle), and the Golden Number represents a year in that cycle. The year of the cycle can be used to determine the date of the Easter.
To Calculate the Golden Number:
Enter 1 in any given year and divide the results by 19, making sure you count to the nearest whole number; the remaining is the Golden Number. If there is no reminder, the Golden number is 19.
For example, to calculate the 2021 Golden Number, we subtract 2021 and add 1, which leads to 2022, then divide equally by 19, giving 106 by the remainder of 8. it is the eighth year of the Metonic cycle.
Easter Traditions
Easter will have to be celebrated very differently this year. Because of the coronavirus, families will not be able to participate in the many common Easter activities as we all become accustomed to isolating the community to stay safe. We’ve put together a few ideas for the future to make sure you have a wonderful holiday.
Virtual Easter
If you can’t have an extended family, why not set up a video conference? Most online video streaming tools are free, and easy to set up directly from your computer or smartphone. You set the date and time and send your guests the code of the conference. This is a great tool to use to stay connected with loved one’s while being cut off from society.
Non-Egg Egg Hunts
Eggs are very expensive these days so if you decide not to make colored eggs this year, there are still ways to hunt for Easter “eggs”.
Sock Hunts: Hide easter themed socks (wrapped in egg-shaped) around the house. You find them, you keep them!
Paper eggs: Before Easter, children should decorate the eggs made of construction paper and the adult will hide them. On the day of the Passover, whoever gets the most eggs wins the prize. You can also include messages in the background for more prizes!
Get creative: You can hide almost anything to make it fun for kids.
Puppy Fun: Plan an Easter Egg Hunt for Your Dog! A clever idea from Dog Tipper.
Make Your Own Bubbles
Who does not love bubbles? Try some of the self-made bubble recipes. Get out to the back yard and watch them float away for the fun of spring / Easter!
Yummy Easter Recipes
This is very easy to assemble. Using your favorite Rice Krispies Treats recipe, simply press the cups of muffin cans full of colorful paper cups, to create a “nest.” Once down, add a few “eggs” of jelly beans and enjoy! You can color your nests by adding a food coloring drop to the marshmallow mixture, or melt some chocolate chips in a chocolate marshmallow mixture
Frequently Asked Questions
Following are some frequently asked questions related to When is Easter 2021?
1. Is Easter ever in March?
The most recent Easter season in March was March 27, 2016. The first Easter of the 21st century came in 2008 (March 23, 2008). Another March 23 Easter will not come again until the year 2160. The latest Easter of the year will appear in the year 2038 (April 25, 2038).
2. Who decides when Easter is?
Easter Sunday is the Sunday following the Paschal of the full moon. The full moon date of the paschal is the full moon date of the ecclesiastical on or after March 21st. Gregory’s method determines the full paschal moon dates by determining the epact for each year. An epact can have value from * (0 or 30) to 29 days.
3. Why does Easter change but Christmas doesn’t?
Steven Engler, a professor of theology at Mount Royal University, says that the main reason the two are different is because Christmas adheres to the lunar calendar, near the winter solstice, and Easter is based on the Jewish lunar cycle.
Conclusion
Easter 2021 will be observed on Sunday, April 4! This Easter is one week away from the full moon of March (Sunday, March 28), the first full moon to occur after the spring equinox (March 20, 2021) and is therefore known in the Christian calendar as the Paschal Full Moon.
