Why Determining Easter’s Date is So Confusing

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In this video:

In the video today, we're looking at how the date of Easter is set and why it's so confusing to figure out.

Sources:

[TodayIFoundOut]

Looking for more fun and fascinating facts? Then check out this video and find out about Paul McCartney’s “Scrambled Eggs, ” which Evolved Into One of the Most Recorded Songs of All Time:

[andymcl]

Small point: eating lamb on Easter is not just because Christians thought it'd be handy to pinch something from Judaism. In fact, it's fundamental. Jews sacrificed the Passover Lamb to take the punishment from their sins of the last year. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice, taking the punishment from all sins of those who choose to let Him. He was the ultimate Passover Lamb, and so Christians eat lamb to remember this.

[sharielane]

It's the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox.

How hard can that be.

[MKFlynn]

While many Easter traditions are taken from more ancient pagan festivals due to the Catholic Church letting people keep certain traditions throughout the year so that they would feel more comfortable converting (it was like "you should believe this, and look, your culture fits right in, " whereas the alternative would be like "believe this and I'll take away your culture"). It just so happens that most ancient cultures had traditions based on the seasons, such as spring harvest. Ancient European traditions were that way, and ancient Jewish traditions continue to be that way. To say that Easter "has pagan origins" is incorrect, unless you are referring to the traditions surrounding it. Easter commemorates a historical event (whether you believe that it was a historical event or not is a completely different issue, but for the sake of argument, assume that the time table written by four different men is correct where a man was arrested the night of Passover and put to death the next day). Passover is one of the spring Jewish festivals (I recommend looking up Dr. Scott Hahn if you want more information on the Jewish festivals, but they did and continue to correspond with the spring and fall). Maybe they chose a date that they thought made sense because it corresponded to a date used for pagan festivals and there are definitely many traditions associated with Easter that are much older than the Christian holy day, but it is very incorrect to say that Easter "has pagan origins."

(P.S. I do watch almost all of you videos, and I think you do a really good job. I just hate the spread of misinformation, and I know it's a popular misconception that Easter was originally pagan, so I wanted to let you know in an informed, factual way (as best as I can at this moment) that it wasn't. I hope this was helpful.)

[sandracheeks]

I always thought it would make the most sense to base it on the date of Passover since the original event was so closely linked to that holiday.

[varana]

Sorry to say that, but there have been better videos.

Apart from a few nitpicky errors, the approach to the topic was quite odd. The actual way of determining Easter was mentioned very quickly in one sentence and the reason why the bishops at Nicaea chose this approach was never really mentioned - i.e. the actual topic of the video.
Instead, there was this long digression on the Julian vs Gregorian calendar - but the actual consequences of that shift on the date of Easter were not mentioned.
Also, the connection to the Jewish calendar - where all this basically starts, as Easter is tied to a Jewish holiday - was not really elaborated upon.

I mean, longer digressions and asides often are what makes this channel interesting, but usually in addition to answering the actual question in the title, not instead of that. ;)

[tkhri]

This video is wrong not because of theology, but because he got the system of the Jewish calendar wrong:

- the Jewish calendar is not lunar, but solilunar.

- The thirteenth month is not Nisan but Adar Alef.

- I use it and it still works well for keeping track of seasons. (I'm not a farmer, but I know that roughly Elul, Tishrei, and Cheshvan are fall, Kislev through Adar are winter, Nisan through Sivan are spring, and Tammuz and Av are summer)

- The full moon is on the 15th, not the 14th

[izzozwiren]

The 13th Jewish month is an extra Adar. In a non-leap year, there is one Adar. In a leap year, there are two. Nissan (as mentioned in the video at 3:04) is the first month of the year.

[michaelhamilton]

Curiously, many of those here purporting to be rational thinkers and empiricists who value knowledge, are yet resorting to straw-manning and mocking a belief of which they have little knowledge. This in a culture that espouses tolerance. An improvement in internal consistency and respect would be warranted, I think.

[tiecondria]

Orthodox Christian here, It's actually all Eastern Orthodoxy that celebrate Pascha (Easter) on a different date, not just the Greek church (That include Russians, Albanians, OCA (American) Ethiopian, Chinese, Korean and so on) . Also, it is pronounced Pas-Ka. Great video, love you guys

[Shabtai]

I would advise asking a Jew before making statements regarding the calendar. We take into account both the lunar months and the solar year. The calculations involved are somewhat complex but the result is sufficiently accurate to satisfy all legal requirements for the next ~3, 500 years.

[okaro]

=FLOOR(DATE(A1, 5, DAY(MINUTES(A3/38)/2+56)), 7)-34 where A1 is the year. I hope I translated the functions correctly.

In Finland the Gregorian calendar was adopted only in 1880s or so as far as the Easter calculation was done. The date had been adopted already in mid 18th century. Sometime in 1830s Finland once had its own Easter separate from any other Christian sect and this was to repeat in 1880s but it was prevented by adopting the Gregorian calendar.

In Finland there is a law that you can use tires with studs until the end of March or the Monday a week after Easter. The funny part is that in a hundred years the basic rule is applied only once and the exception in all other years.

[elishamongerd.c.]

As someone who is in the Eastern Orthodox faith and specifically in a branch that still follows the Julian calander, I have a few insights and corrections to imput. First, while the Greek Orthodox church is one of the oldest and best known branches of the church, it is still only one of 14 branches existing today, each with its own seperate patriarch. These branches then meet in council (such as happened last year) to make decisions and statements for the church as a whole. Second, Orthodoxy only uses the term Pascha, not easter. Easter as a term was adopted in the west, even the Eastern Catholics still prefer Pascha. Third, the lunar calendar is still essentially how Pascha is calculated. The addition of the 13th month (and therefore the timing of the jewish passover which is in the first month of the new year) was based on the barley harvest timing with the new moon in Jerusalem. If the barley was too green, an extra month was added. When Jerusalem fell in 72AD this method of timing became impossible so an estimated lunar calender was adopted that was used to calculate passover. Pascha, as the fulfillment of passover, continues to be timed with passover in the east (including with eastern catholics). In the west, attempts to simplify the calculation combined with a shift to the gregorian calander produce dates for Easter that only occasionally align with Pascha and Passover. As a side note, In modern times the old lunar calander has been revived including measuring the barley ripeness in Jerusalem.

[charliepollock]

I'm not Christian but it's a fact Jesus did exist, he is a historical figure . The bit to debate is if he done miracles and I he rose from the dead

[nitfens]

The Jewish month of Nisan was not added, it is actually the seventh month of the year (or first according to the older way of counting). The way the Jewish calendar matches the lunar year to the solar year is by adding a month to the 3d, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th year of a 19 year cycle. The finer adjustments are made by adding a 30th day to certain months on certain years. This is all done according to a system that was developed in the mid fourth century (some traditions say that it had already existed a few centuries prior but wasn't widely used until then) and has been used consistently to this day without any changes.

[cityraildude]

0:21- Autumn, thank you. There's this thing called the Southern Hemisphere...

[MichaBerger]

Nisan isn't an added month. The extra month in the Jewish calendar is the doubling of Adar into an Adar I and Adar II. Given the number of Jews in the country you're recoding in, not to mention the ease of Google, that's a pretty wild error.

[thekittykarate]

I kinda like that they have to consult ancient texts to find what date the holiday will fall on. Makes it seem more mysterious.

[jumemowery]

I am a little surprised that you did not reference the pre-babalonian Hebrew calendar that sets the date of passover by the lunar elimination and the barley being ripe. If the barley is not ripe then they add a leap month. This pretty well kept the calendar in line with seasons. Passover is the 14 day of the first month. And of course Easter is tied to the passover.

[aperson]

The Last Supper was not a seder meal. The specific and extensive rituals surrounding the seder are very well known and do not feature in the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper. Jesus would not have ignored them. Furthermore, the priests of the Sanhedrin gathered later that night to arrest and try Jesus. Those priests would _not_ have left their homes to conduct any such business on the Passover.