In the majority of the Christian world, Easter Sunday falls at some point in the month between the end of March and the end of April – and this year, it comes near the beginning of that window.
The holiday, which commemorates the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, falls on 1 April this year, coinciding with April Fool’s Day.
To anyone unfamiliar with the movement of the moon, the vagaries of the Julian and the Gregorian calendars and the March equinox, the date can seem somewhat random. But in fact, it’s governed by strict rules…
Why is the date of Easter not fixed?
The short answer is that early Christians wanted to observe Easter around the time of the Jewish festival of Passover as that is when the Last Supper is thought to have taken place.
As the Hebrew calendar is based on both solar and lunar cycles, Passover changes each year and that, in turn, makes Easter change, too.
Added to that is another layer of complexity: Western Christians, including Protestants and Roman Catholics, and their Eastern Orthodox counterparts often celebrate on different dates thanks to differences in their calendars.
In 2014, Easter Sunday fell on the same day for both but this year, it is 1 April in the west and 8 April in the east.
How is the date calculated?
In the very early days of Christianity, the First Council of Nicaea, a gathering of bishops, determined Easter would always fall on the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon - the first full moon of the spring equinox.
How is Easter celebrated?
The holiday is celebrated differently around the world. In the US, they give painted eggs and baskets of sweets, while British children go on hunts for chocolate eggs left by the Easter Bunny.
The Greeks eat a traditional baked bread called tsoureki with red-dyed eggs, while many central and eastern Europeans paint eggs decoratively and or fight with them like conkers. Things are done slightly differently in the Czech Republic, where boys pour water on girls and symbolically whip them with willow twigs.
The willow branch also features in Easter traditions in Finland, where young children dress up as witches for the spring holiday. “The little witches then go from door to door, bringing willow twigs decorated with colourful feathers and crepe paper as blessings to drive away evil spirits, in return for treats,” says Finnish children’s culture expert Reeli Karimäki.
For Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia, Easter is the most revered religious holiday of the year. Known as Fasika, the festival features days of prayer and fasting, culminating with a magnificent feast on Easter Sunday. On the eve of the holiday, worshippers attend an hours-long church service that ends at 3am, after which they break their fast and celebrate the resurrection of Christ.
But nowhere is Easter celebrated quite as fervently as in the Philippines, one of only two predominantly Christian countries in Asia, says the South China Morning Post magazine. ”In the Central Luzon province of Pampanga, a handful of fanatical penitents willingly have nails hammered into their palms and feet before being ‘crucified’ by attendants dressed as Roman centurions, it says.
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