Easter 2013

Easter for the year 2013 is celebrated/ observed on Sunday, March 31st.

Easter also called Resurrection Sunday or Pascha is one of the most important days in the Christian faith commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead according to the New Testament. The Easter Triduum or Paschal Triduum starts on the evening of Maundy Thursday with the last supper continuing on through Good Friday and the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ into Holy Saturday and ending with prayers on the evening of Easter Sunday. The day is the beginning of the Eastertide season and the end of Lent (40 days of fasting and prayer starting on Ash Wednesday ending on Holy Saturday) and Holy Week that started on Palm Sunday and lasts 7 days through to Holy Saturday. Although it is not a federal U.S. holiday, many stores are closed or operate minimal hours on this day.

Easter Date

The day of Easter falls on a Sunday based on the lunisolar (sun and moon) calendar, not a fixed date on the Gregorian or Julian calendar.

Easter date each year has been determined to fall on the Sunday after the full moon following March 21 for Western Christians who use the Gregorian calendar (modern calendar). Thus Easter will fall between March 22nd and April 25th inclusive each year. For Eastern Christians who use the Julian calendar (currently runs 13 days behind Gregorian calendar) they have a similar way to determine Easter based on the first full moon after April 3rd thus Easter will fall sometime between April 4th through May 8th each year.

In 325 A.D. at the Council of Nicaea there was an attempt to provide guidance of which we use today to determine the date Easter. They came up with these rules: a) Easter must be celebrated throughout the world on Sunday, b) this Sunday must follow the fourteenth day of the paschal moon, c) and that that moon was to be accounted the paschal moon whose fourteenth day followed the spring equinox, d) and finally that some provision should be made to have a credible authority (like the Church of Alexandria at the time) determine based on these above rules the date of Easter each year for the world [1].

Days to Easter 2013

Sunday, March 31st is day number 90 of the 2013 calendar year with -11 years, -8 months, -22 days until Easter 2013.

Further Reading:
Encyclopedia Britannica Easter History and Facts
Wikipedia on Easter Easter Day

References:
1.”Council of Nicaea on Easter Date” - New Advent, newadvent.org.

Easter
Name(s):	Easter, Pascha, Resurrection Sunday
Type:	Observance, Christian
When:	First Sunday after a full moon after March 21st