Have you ever wondered why this is so?
Sometimes Easter can be at the end of March and other years it can be in late April. This year in 2022, Easter Sunday is on April 17th. For it to be any later than it was in 2019 when it was on April 21, you'll have to wait until 2038!
Easter marks the date of the death and resurrection of Jesus. According to the Bible, this happened around the time of the Jewish Passover which was calculated on the cycles of the Moon (the lunar calendar) However, this could be variable within different Christian groups. Some celebrated it on Passover and some on the following Sunday.
In 325AD, Emperor Constantine called all Christian groups to the first Council of Nicea to settle the date of Easter. It was decided that it would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox (northern hemisphere) which is always on March 21. In 2022, the first full moon after this date is Saturday April 16, so this year Easter Sunday is April 17. The earliest possible date that Easter Sunday can fall is March 22 which last happened in 1818.
However, different religious groups had different methods of calculation. Irish Monks argued their way had commenced with John the Evangelist but Roman Monks claimed their calculations had begun with St Peter himself, so in 664AD a clergy meeting at Whitby Abbey was called to settle the matter. King Osway decreed the Roman tradition should be adopted for all of England based on the fact that St. Peter is the gatekeeper of heaven and the King wanted to get there.
Up until the end of the 16th century, Christians had followed the Julien calendar (named after the inventor Julius Caesar) which has a repeating pattern of 3 years with 365 days and one year of 366 but this calendar overestimated the tropical year, the time from one equinox to the next, affecting the date of Easter. To solve this, Pope Gregory XIII suggested eliminating a few days of the year so those countries following the Pope's plan had October 15 follow October 4. By this time the majority of England was largely Protestant and the Catholic Pope's controversial plan was not implemented.
In the 18th century, parliament declared that in order for England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland be as one, it was decided that Wednesday September 2 would be followed immediately by Thursday 14, following the calendar of most of Europe.
The Gregorian calendar is the international civil calendar and is not used by all churches. The Orthodox Church follows the Julien Calendar and this year Easter will fall later on Sunday April 24. In 2025 both Churches will celebrate Easter on Sunday April 20.
Although there has been much talk of fixing the date of Easter, for the foreseeable future it will remain a moveable feast. So if you're wondering when Easter will be in the future, for me, it's much easier to just search the internet.
