Anyone else annoyed by how Easter falls this year?

[Pyjamapyjamapyjama]

Easter is a big deal in my culture (I'm not British) and we always travel to my parents to celebrate. I cannot drive for a medical reason and usually take my kids there by train (it's a good 3 hours away), going on the Thursday before and returning the Tuesday after. However this year the schools go back on the Tuesday directly after Easter Monday which is incredibly irritating as no trains are running over Easter weekend and I have 0 desire to drag two kids and a baby on replacement bus services. I can't host myself as my home isn't large enough.

So annoying!!

I don’t think anyone wants to it to work around modern convenience.🤷‍♀️😂

It's great for me this year as I always have Easter as annual leave. I've only got a few days left. Easter goes into next year's annual leave allowance.

YANBU and we will be missing the first day back for a similar reason.

You have a lot of notice, if it's important to your family can someone give you all a lift home?

Sounds like you can get there, just getting back that is a problem.

Yes it has. That is why orthodox Christians usually have Easter (and Christmas) on different dates. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_of_Easter

Orthodoxy also makes a "big deal" out of Easter. This year it happens to be on the same date, but that is not usual.

So it has everything to do with which calendar you follow - assuming, of course, that it is a "big deal" for you. If you aren't a Christian it is, of course, none of your business since you won't be celebrating it.

In your case OP, why don't your parents come to you? Assuming they don't need to be at work on the Tuesday and you have no siblings who teach.

Schools in ni/ireland work their holidays around Easter. Why can't the schools just do that ?

It is done for the convenience of the children at school not for you. They
have to try and even up the lengths of the terms.

Am I allowed to be slightly gobsmacked at the number of people who do not realise that Easter is when it is because of Passover ?

We are back on the 22nd.
If Easter was in the middle of the holidays then the next 1/2 term (spring 2) would be 7 weeks, which is doable an 8 weeker is a killer, and then only 3 weeks for summer 1 I couldn’t possibly fit the summer curriculum into that.

Also those people who don't realise that Easter is celebrated in many countries, not just the UK.

I can't imagine the Pope/Archbishop being too keen on the idea of fixing Easter to make it more convenient for UK parents.

Quite simple OP,explain the situation to the school & let them know given your personal circumstances you have no alternative other than to keep them off school on the Tuesday back on Wednesday.

Surely it can be helped! There's no good reason why Easter can't be fixed, AFAIK.

Well, OP, you should be grateful that they took the late May half term out of the parameters of the original break, which was tied to Whitsun, ie the 7th Sunday after Easter Sunday, so the May half term used to move accordingly. They stopped the half term moving, by fixing the late May bank holiday Monday as the last Monday in May in 1971. They then brought in the May day holiday in 1978 and there was one amazing year, for taking holidays, when for only 4 days off work I got Good Friday, Easter Monday, the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then the May bank holiday Monday.

There was also the not-so-good year when my ds was in primary school when Easter was so early - 23rd March - they had the Easter weekend off (it snowed), went back to school, then had two weeks in April.

I don't know, in recent years it's got very commercialised, almost as bad as Christmas. I'm aware of people sending Easter cards and giving expensive gifts that are nothing to do with the religious festival or chocolate/bunnies etc

I prefer Easter later as it isn't freezing cold! I also think it's nice it is a "moveable feast" being an ancient celebration. It will just suit more some years than others. I'm having a baby in early to mid April so works out well for me!

Same for me in Wales. The Easter school holidays was always the week leading to Good Friday and the days following Easter Monday. So this thread has surprised me as I didn't realise not all schools did that.

Blooming annoying for me one year in uni when Easter was super late in April. My termly student loan payment had to stretch over 16 weeks until the last summer "term" that was the only a month long. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Very annoying having the same amount of money last for 4 months as opposed to barely a month of summer term. The only time it didn't make sense to split the payments equally per term.

yes indeed

and we haven't used the Julian calendar since 1752 in England and Wales

Its a annoying holiday full stop. It should be the same 2weeks every week so parents can plan,

Yes terrible for those doing public examinations as no study leave this year due to it falling so late!!

how would you go about getting every christian country to realign Easter to a fixed holiday?

Reminds me of a parent at my children's primary school who went in to complain that her daughter's class had been told about the Easter story and she thought it was too scary and gory for young children because of the crucifixion. OK, it was a community primary school, not a church school, but children of 9/10/11 are surely old enough to hear about this. Plenty of gore in video games, films and so forth. I think she would have been perfectly happy if the school had celebrated Easter as a time of chocolate, Easter bunnies and bonnets and spring flowers.

Easter holiday timings have always been a pain in the neck for school holidays. When my children were both in secondary, there was one terrible year when my son's school set the Easter holiday dates so that the Bank Holidays (very early, late March that year) were in the middle and my daughter's school took the two Bank Holidays but then went back for a few more days to finish off the Spring Term and had the main holiday later on. I think there was just one day of overlap between the two holidays. A nightmare for our annual leave and for trying to see my parents!

As others have said its not a simple process - it requires agreement between the Catholics, Anglicans, Orthodox and many other Churches around the world. Fixing it would require different traditions overcoming centuries of mistrust and conflict to work together.

Equally there is no reason why Good Friday and Easter Monday have to be included in the school holidays - if the school holidays were always fixed as say a certain two weeks in April or March the Easter bank holidays could be treated as extra days, with perhaps only an 8 day Easter school holiday, if they fell outside that period.

Jesus was a Jew.
The Last Supper was a Passover supper.
Easter therefore moves to fit with Passover.

The UK could delink the spring break from Easter (as the USA does)
but the date of Easter is rather bigger than UK term times.

Ooh actually last year my DSiL did easter gifts for DN, inspired by tiktok I think. Better than the depressing easter bonnet competitions we used to have at school as a child I guess but it is a bit ridiculous with how much everything costs.