Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-04-16
The Date of Easter
and How 1t Is Fixed

to declare that Christ was crucified
March 25 of the year 90. He shows
that there are eight years-from the
year 81 to the year Sin which the
event might have occurred. But, he
argues. Christ was crucified on a Fri
day and buried toward evening of ths
same day, the beginning OF the Jewish
Passover. as is shown by the gospels.
But Of those eight wears there are only
two in which the l4th OF Nissan.
or beginning of the Jewish Passover.
falls on Thursday. Those two years
the twenty-nnth and thirty-third.
OF the two he claims that the twenty
ninth should be given the preference.
first because Christ was born i'm 80 and
not a54 years after the founding or
Rome, and thus four years before the
beginning of our era.
His second reason for claiming that
the correct year is the twenty-ninth il
that the Passover came early that year.
while in the year 33 IL was fully two
weeks later. In the book of John il Is
told that on the night when Christ was
apprehended il was cold and that a fire
was burning in the outer court OF the
high priest DIR. Neen claims that in the
year 33 the Passover would have occur
red i'm April. and declares that in Pales-
tine the nights are then no longer cold.
DIR. Neen also claims that Christ ate the
Passover with His disciples THURSDAY
evening at sunset, which would be the
beginning Of the 10TH of Nissan, ana
therefore of the Jewish Passover. accord
ing to Jewish reckoning.
x
Consequently. those people who cannot
see why Easter should not be a fixed
date like Christmas. can take DIR. Neen's
explanation for the matter and consider
that the true Easter day should be the
eth of March, whatever might be the
day on which it fell. That there have
been those vino believed i'm making the
date fixed instead Of movable is shown by
history 1t is shown that about $40 many
Gallo bishops began their celebration OF
Ea ster on the 18th Of March. and cons;d-
cred il an immovable feast. From that il
would seem that DIR. Veen's explanation
was right, the dates in both cases are
the same. Another historian OF church
matters claims that "originally the apos-
ties kept Easter on the full moon or
March. on whatever day il fell. After
their death different customs prevailed in
different provinces" But IL seems that
the Gauis continued to keep March 25 az
the date.
Whatever may have been the beginning.
Il is nevertheless true that Easter did be-
come a NOV a BILE feast, and, what is more,
the pivotal point around which revolve all
the other movable feasts of the church
And the way in which this was brought
between the Christian observance OF
Easter and the Jewish celebration OF the
Passover. although there are some who
refuse to recognize the tie in the last in
stance. The beginning of the trouble lay
in the fact that according to the Jewish
calendar the 18th of Nissan, or the begin
ming of the Jewish Passover. fell on Q
different day each year.
But even under the present manner
Of reckoning Easter. the Jewish
Passover falls within a few days OF
Easter celebration. This year il came
ON Wednesday, or, properly speaking on
the evening of that day, which was the
beginning of the Jewish fifteenth Nissn.
According TO the present system of de-
termining Easter it can never fall be-
fore the 2cd of March or later than the
18th of April. In 1851 and 1918
Easter fell on the first possible day
that is, the I'D of March-but that will
not happen again during the present
century. Next year. however, will be
the nearest date. as Easter then falls on
March 3D.
Easter and the Jewish Passover have
several times occurred on the same day.
This happened in 1905. on the 14th Of
April; in 1926. on the Sd Of April and
in 1903 on the 18th OF April. Ii will he
1923 before il falls thus together again,
however, on the LIST of April, and neat
after that fan 1927, on the 18th OF April.
and i'm 1851, on the 10Th OF April The
latest Easter of this century will occur
in 1919, when il will fall on the 18th %
april. or tic latest day possisiA