Easter Early this Year

I think Bob said he hated Florida weather, now he wants to live on the equator?

Quote: JimRockford

You would hate it there.

Even people born there hate it. The heat and humidity
is overwhelming. I've heard people from Singapore
say you'll get used to it, but others say you never
really get used to it.

Quote: odiousgambit

I think Bob said he hated Florida weather, now he wants to live on the equator?

There are a few places in SA where
it's not that bad. I like season
changes, I would hate it there.

I've been able to come up for air enough times to stick with this.

again, Full Moon, then Passover, then unadjusted Easter

2001     April 8     April 8    April 8
2002     March 28     March 28     March 28
2003     April 16     April 17     April 16
2004     April 5     April 6     April 5
2005     March 25     April 24     March 25
2006     April 13     April 16     April 13
2007     April 2     April 3     April 2
2008     March 21     April 20     March 21  

Looking at 2005, the spring equinox is March 20th, here and in Jerusalem, and the full moon was March 25th. Easter, for the record, was observed March 27th. But Passover again was about a month after the equinox. That the Hebrew calendar adds about a whole month every 3 years we already figured out. Searching for the names of Hebrew months enabled me to search for more details, and it turns out it's the month Adar that is added twice, shown on the online calendar that adds Hebrew calendar dates as Adar I and II [short for more formal Hebrew names]. You can check this out starting with March 2005 ... 

https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/monthly.html?year=2005&month=3&country=34

The Hebrew calendar is double-tasked, it has to get itself coordinated to some degree with solar events but also has to keep the date of the full moon near the middle of the month, seeming to take the last task more to heart perhaps. It's a full month or nothing. Thus there is no way to keep from sometimes making Passover quite late vis a vis the equinox. 

Determining when Easter should occur is different, basically it is to have it come after the full moon that's after the equinox. Since it sometimes comes late in April, the why of that might be worth a look. In 2003 the disqualified full moon was on March 18th, so that one is easy. Searching, turns out 1943 had an April 25th Easter*, a year in which the full moon was on March 21st, actual equinox [but also the date always used for it] and the rule is, clearly, if the full moon is on the 21st, that's not "after" the equinox.  Passover and unadjusted Easter were on the 20th.

1886 illustrates another rule, the qualified full moon occurs on Sunday April 18th, but if the full moon happens on a Sunday, Easter is to be on the next Sunday. This is certainly a very un-jewish attitude since Passover is definitely smack dab on a full moon LOL. For 1886 Easter was again on April 25th. 

This might be the last post on this, so I will conclude by saying the guy who told me Easter was determined by a religious lunar calendar was not quite right. I would say it is more accurate to say it is derivative of such a lunar calendar but has been modified to rules about the full moon and the equinox. 

This was great to find: https://webspace.science.uu.nl/~gent0113/easter/easter_text2b.htm


*the 25th is the last possible date for Easter Sunday due to the next moon having to be around April 21st, and evidently the following Sunday never goes past the 25th

I'm Still Standing, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah [it's an old guy chant for me]

OK, so this is the last post maybe LOL

I think I decided that the rabbit hole that would suffocate me was trying to follow how the Hebrew calendar was adjusted. This was probably due to the daunting size of the Wikipedia page on it, but actually it is simple enough. An Atlantic magazine article is worth quoting.

Quote: link

The Hebrew calendar [if not adjusted right would] drift out of sync with the solar calendar, violating the biblical commandment to celebrate Passover during the spring. The Hebrew calendar resolves this tension by periodically adding an extra month to the calendar.

Two thousand years ago, this decision was made on the fly, almost Groundhog Day–style. During the month of Adar (which directly precedes the Passover month of Nisan), the ancient rabbinical court would decide if it was springy enough outside for Passover. If spring seemed to be on track, Nisan could occur. But if it wasn’t warm enough outside yet, the rabbis would tack on another month of Adar. They called this leap month Adar II.*

Around the third century of the Common Era, this observational system was replaced with a fixed calendar. The Hebrew calendar now adds a leap month seven years out of every 19. (Or, more exactly, Adar II is now added in the third, sixth, eighth, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years of the cycle.)

“It works out so that over the course of 19 years, that comes out almost to the length of the solar years, ” Dreyfus said. “But it doesn’t work perfectly. The Jewish calendar drifts about one day later every 200 years, and so far there isn’t any mechanism to correct that.” [quoting Benjamin Dreyfus, a prof. of physics author interviewed]

I'm guessing there is no easy fix to the 200 year problem due to the need to make the full moon near the middle of the month.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/04/why-dont-easter-and-passover-always-line/587572/

* funny that the author would think they used Roman numerals. Of course Hebrew names were used, I & II being a modern usage

I'm Still Standing, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah [it's an old guy chant for me]

Easter will be held on April 4 this year, this news is worth looking forward to .