Floating holiday: how many Easter?

Sooner or later, almost every person starts to wonder at the mysterious phenomenon of Christian Easter. This wandering feast can fall in April and May, and willy-nilly you are puzzled how many Easter will be this year, and why Christians are not determined, on which day should you celebrate?

If you delve into the history of the holiday, it turns out that in fact it existed before the whole story happened with Jesus Christ. If you leave the religion alone, and turn to history, then at the time of the entry of the Jesus mentioned in Jerusalem, its inhabitants pompously celebrated Easter. It's about the Jewish holiday, which has nothing to do with the tragic story of the crucifixion. That is why the question of what Easter number can be answered only by astronomers: this is the first Sunday of the full moon following the vernal equinox. If the spring equinox falls on March 20 or 21, then the next full moon can not be tied to a certain date. In fact, there is a need for a lunar calendar, which will help determine which Easter day and which month in the current year.

The meaning of this particular definition of the date of the holiday lies precisely in the lunar calendar - it was based on the schedule of agricultural work. Easter could be considered as a starting point in the new agricultural year. In Christianity, it is important not only how many Easter, but also the pleasant everyday customs associated with this holiday. As you know, Easter ends the Great Fasting - it's forty days of abstinence, the outer part of which is expressed in the refusal of certain types of food. In this case, more important is self-control, because the goal of Lent is spiritual cleansing, and not a gastronomic diet. Nevertheless, many people, tied to religious traditions only nominally, will find out what the number will be Easter, only by changing the assortment in supermarkets. On sale there are paints for boiled eggs, cakes of all shapes and sizes, cards of the appropriate content.

In addition, the date is also determined by the type of calendar used in the Christian tradition. Almost everyone knows the fundamental difference in the dating of holidays between the Orthodox and Catholic traditions. The Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar, Catholic, respectively, Gregorian. This is the main reason why Easter falls on different dates, but every nineteen years, Catholic and Orthodox Easter falls on one day. It is not known how much this can be considered a positive sign, however, different calendars are not an obstacle to peaceful and good-neighborly relations between Catholic and Orthodox churches.

If you want to decide for yourself what Easter number is exactly for you, you should first understand what religious tradition you belong to. Despite the fact that Orthodoxy prevails, the other concessions are not infringed, so you can choose for yourself those religious beliefs that are closer to your worldview. If Easter is just another reason for you to touch the roots, to join the traditions of the people, then accept by default that this is an Orthodox tradition, in which there is a manifestation of love and joy. In the end, holidays are for this purpose and created to rejoice and congratulate each other. On this day it is customary to treat Easter cakes, traditional and elegant food is boiled eggs that are painted in different colors and sometimes painted with complex patterns. Many prepare a curd sweet mixture with raisins, all kinds of sweets and meat snacks. Celebrate your health, Christ is risen!