You are here:
Home 
Influences
Influences
|
The Christian holiday of Easter has some similarities with the feast. The holy day is actually called "Passover" (or a derivative) in most languages other than English, and its central theme is that Christ was the paschal lamb in human form.( 1 Corinthians 5:7-8) Additionally, the Synoptic Gospels relate that Christ's Last Supper was a Passover seder. (Luke 22:15-16) With a few sectarian exceptions, the date of Easter was always determined by taking into account the same lunisolar cycles. Since the 4th-5th centuries CE, the most approved method has used a 19-year cycle of lunar months to set Easter to the first Sunday following the first full moon falling on or after the spring equinox, the full moon being reckoned functionally as the 14th of the lunar month, and the equinox being reckoned functionally as March 21. Because of the drift of the seasons and lunations under the Julian calendar, over the centuries the Easter cycle fell out of synchronization with the sun and moon. But the Gregorian reforms restored the equinox to March 21 and corrected the tabulated lunar cycles, so that the Gregorian calendar's Easter is almost always the same as would be computed by more precise astronomical computations. Gregorian Easter usually falls up to seven days after Passover, but in years 8, 11, and 19 of the Hebrew calendar's 19-year cycle, (corresponding respectively to years 11, and 14, and 3 of the Christian 19-year cycle) Passover falls about a month after Gregorian Easter. Similarly, because the solar year of the Julian calendar is too long compared to the spring equinox year, Orthodox Easter occurs about a month after Gregorian Easter in years 3, 8, 11, 14 and 19 of the Christian 19-year cycle. Three of these years (3, 11, and 14) correspond to years in which Passover is about a month after Gregorian Easter. So in these years (years 19, 8, and 11 of the Hebrew calendar's cycle) Passover will occur in the same lunation as Julian (Eastern Orthodox) Easter. However, because the Julian calendar's tabulated lunar months are now 3 to 5 days behind the astronomical facts, Passover even in these years will always precede Orthodox Easter. In years 8 and 19 of the Christian cycle (corresponding to years 5 and 16 of the Hebrew calendar's cycle), Passover and Gregorian Easter will be in the same lunation, and Julian Easter will be a lunation later. This state of affairs will continue until 2199, after which the Gregorian epacts will shift. Beginning in 2200, Passover will be a month after Gregorian Easter in four years out of nineteen - in years 3, 8, 11, and 19 of the Jewish cycle (corresponding respectively to years 6, 11, 14, and 3 of the Gregorian cycle). Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide do not observe Easter but, instead, observe only the Last Supper on the first evening of Passover; they do not necessarily use the same date as the modern Jewish calendar, but it sometimes corresponds with the same full moon as the festival of Purim. |
|
Influences
