A spring observance with a layered history
For Christians, Easter is the principal celebration of Jesus' resurrection. Its observance developed within Jewish and early Christian calendars, while some seasonal customs and imagery became associated with older spring festivals. The history is complex: similarities between traditions do not mean that every modern practice has one simple origin.
Easter Sunday is not fixed to one calendar date. In the Western churches it falls between 22 March and 25 April. Many Eastern churches calculate the feast using the Julian calendar alongside their own ecclesiastical rules, so the dates may differ from those used in Western Christianity.
The calculation connects Easter with the spring equinox and a traditionally defined full moon. This is a calendar convention rather than a direct measurement of the astronomical full moon. The result allows the festival to move from year to year while remaining within the spring season.
Reading the calendar carefully
References to the equinox, full moon and calendar differences describe systems used by particular communities. They should not be treated as evidence that every Christian or Pagan group follows the same method.
Topics in this section
- The Pagan origins of Easter, including spring-equinox celebrations.
- Pagan and Neopagan celebrations near the spring equinox.
- The Christian origins of Easter.
- Easter traditions and symbols, including eggs and rabbits.
- Names for Easter in various languages.
- Historical disputes over the date of Easter and attempts at a common date.
- Twentieth-century attempts to find a common date.
- Different proposals about the chronology of Holy Week.
- Beliefs about Jesus' resurrection and how they are interpreted.
- Easter: what it means, a contributed perspective.
- Easter as personal transformation, another contributed perspective.