To still not understand Easter?

[Kayano]

I was raised a catholic and attended catholic school.
I got an A* in my RS GCSE because I had been bashed round the head with a bible for many years not because I tried

But although I get Easter. Crucifixtion, raised from the dead three days later...

Why does it MOVE?!

I'm sure I know this but now I am an adult and have finally said you know what? Bull I still don't understand why the date changes.

I mean. Jesus was born on one day (Christmas... Supposedly) 25th Dec

Presumably he died one day too... Why does it not stay the same date then? Jesus died this day... Blah blah april... Jesus last year might have died this day march... Blah blah

? Can someone explain it to me

Because we use the Gregorian calendar when working out lunar cycles, equinox's and passover. The Greek Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar.

eggs and bunnies ---spring (pagan, not christian i think)

not at all, nickel.

although paganism predates judaism, doesn't it? So any festivals that are basically the same thing must have their origins in paganism?

Although paganism isn't really the right word, is it?

I'm talking the beliefs and festivals of the people of the ancient world. That predates both judaism and christianity, yet elements of it are seen in both.

I think. I'm not an expert or anything.

mu understanding of it is.

good friday - the last supper, you MUST eat fish
saturday- the crucifixion
sunday-he's dead, we all mourn at midnight mass ???
monday- he's alive again and we get a day off work

can anyone point me in the factual direction. I was raised by a Sunday School teacher

it was easier to take pagan festival dates and do the christian celebrations then in order to get people to convert.
so they didn't feel like they were missing out on anything.

5foot5 (I think I am right about this, turns out I was only half right about Easter ): The Eastern Orthodox countries used to use the Julian calendar, instead of the Gregorian calendar, which differed by about a fortnight. For religious feasts quite often they still use the old system. For example, in Russia they have New Year and Old New Year based on both the Julian and Gregorian calendars (any excuse for a party...).

It moves because it happened at Passover, which is also this weekend.

that said, because we do know it was Passover, we could work out the exact date and celebrate then. (It has been worked out when it was as some dull people were looking to see where the moon was in relation to the sun for the bit after Jesus died when it went dark at 3pm - it isn't possible for it to be an eclipse that just happened at the same time, so it either didn't happen or it did and there's no natural explaination) But that would be a lot of hassle, it's nice to move it around.

And VegimalStyle - do you think the Jewish people celebrate passover then because they were copying the pagans? (But then I don't understand why people just assume the Christmas date is because of replacing the pagan festivals, rather than replacing Hanukkah, or indeed the Roman festivals)

Agincourt you are a day out of sync. Thursday was the last supper, Good Friday the crucifixion, Saturday dead all day, Sunday (the third day) he rose again. Bank Holiday Monday has nothing to do with it!

jewish dates have nothing to do with pagan ones.

eggs = birth. again. pagan.

Jesus returning to life fits in well with the idea of spring as rebirth.

rabbits/hares are linked with several goddesses, I think. and were considered sacred in britain?

thank you fluffyanimal :) i will have forgotten this by next easter mind you!

LesAnimaux "Well of course Jesus existed..."

Not to hijack the thread, but given that there's absolutely no evidence of any kind whatsoever that he did, there's no "of course" about it, I'm afraid.

But this thread wasn't asking if Easter was actually just some rebranded form of a pagan ritual. It was asking why the dates move. The dates move (in the simplest answer) because the dates of Passover move. If that was originally incorporated from pagan traditions, I don't see what that has to do with anything.

so why on earth do we all queue out of the fish and chip shop on good friday?

or used to anyway in my working class childhood.

My Mum thinks you will go to hell if you don't eat fish ona Good Friday. She even rings me up to check if I have ffs

good friday - the last supper, you MUST eat fish
saturday- the crucifixion
sunday-he's dead, we all mourn at midnight mass ???
monday- he's alive again and we get a day off work

You're a day out.

Thursday was the last supper
Friday was the crucifixion - churches have 'stations of the cross' services and it's a fast day so no food should be eaten (in the catholic church anyways). He was taken down on the Friday before sundown because being left up on the Sabbath was not allowed.
He rose again on the Sunday.
We get Monday off work so we can get to B&Q to fix the messed up DIY before we go back to work.

sorry. that's me all over. answering / speculating on a question nobody asked

I just find the whole thing fascinating. The lengths that were gone to to eliminate the old religions.

it's the 1st sunday after the 1st full moon after the spring equinox

so why on earth do we all queue out of the fish and chip shop on good friday?

Because the Church of England became Catholicism-light and replaced fast days with having fish instead coz that's not proper food so doesn't count.

Agincourt - Fluffyanimal is right - Jesus died on Good Friday, being finished off with a spear in the side (rather than being left for days) because the Romans wanted them all dead and the bodies down before the Passover celebrations on the Saturday. There wasn't enough time to 'dress' the body for death (embarming etc) before sundown (most Jewish festivals start a sundown on the Friday night rather than the Saturday morning) that's why Mary was there on the Sunday to find the stone moved and the tome empty. And that's also why Christians have Sunday rather than Saturday as the holy day (even though it's the first rather than the 7th day).

The Monday holiday is just because in the same way if Christmas falls on a weekend you get the next working day off, Easter was traditionally the 'big' celebration so we get an extra day to enjoy it.

yy
thursday = queue in tesco as we will run out of bread over easter
good friday -= queue up for fish and chips
saturday = queue up for church
sunday = queue up nowhere as it was a late night and everywhere is closed, hence 10 loaves in bread bin
Bank Holiday monday = queuing in b&q

Not to hijack the thread, but given that there's absolutely no evidence of any kind whatsoever that he did

This is untrue. There aren't pictures of him about, but there is a lot of historical evidence to show that there really was a person named Jesus, including mention of him from sources outwidth the Bible (including being documented by hostile sources, or people who were not followers and actively wanted His reputation to be tarnished or disproven).

nickname the answer is that it is based on a pagan festival and the timing of said pagan festival. If it wasn't then it wouldn't be called easter for a start and would be at a different time of year or perhaps even a fixed date, maybe even the day Jesus died.

CrockoDuck - well, there's evidence that contempory Romans wrote about a 'magician from Nazareth', there's evidence that a man called Jesus was executed as "King of the Jews" by the Romans. However, Romans excuted more than one "King of the Jews" and "Leader of the Jews" they also excuted a lot of other people with a sign reading "King of XYZ" because it was one way of not just killing rebel leaders, but also controlling the conquered people.

Easter Monday is NOT for queing in B&Q. its the day you roll your easter eggs down a muddy hill in your local park, hoping to avoid the dog shit. When they have all been rolled you can then eat them, whiping off as much mud and grass as possible.

lydia I don't assume, I studied. Have you? Go read books on the subject and enjoy!