Just out of wondering.

[Noir]

May be considered pointless but out of curiosity. I'd there a reason why Chirstians celebrate Jesus' birthday on the same date every year, but Easter changes from year to year depending on what day is near the end of the month etc. is there a reason for that or is it just always how it's been done?

[DragonStryk72]

May be considered pointless but out of curiosity. I'd there a reason why Chirstians celebrate Jesus' birthday on the same date every year, but Easter changes from year to year depending on what day is near the end of the month etc. is there a reason for that or is it just always how it's been done?

well, actually, there is. See, before Easter we have Lent, which begins with Ash Wednesday, and ends with the Good Friday and Easter Sunday following what's called the liturgical calendar. Due to the relative shifts each year in the specific date Ash Wednesday occurs on, that's why Easter moves each year.

[Nukeman]

May be considered pointless but out of curiosity. I'd there a reason why Chirstians celebrate Jesus' birthday on the same date every year, but Easter changes from year to year depending on what day is near the end of the month etc. is there a reason for that or is it just always how it's been done?I think you already know the answer to your own question. You are just fishing for arguments:slap:

You know as I do that the actual date of Jesus birth probably was no where near the 25th of Dec. In fact it was more than likely in Sept or late summer. That being said the actual date is not important but the actual celebration of his birth is. Just as the "actual" date of Easter is not important but the symbolism involved is. I mean really who the heck cares if Easter falls on the first Sunday following the second full moon of the new year. That is why that changes, but once again NO ONE knows the exact date.

[Noir]

I think you already know the answer to your own question. You are just fishing for arguments:slap:

You know as I do that the actual date of Jesus birth probably was no where near the 25th of Dec. In fact it was more than likely in Sept or late summer. That being said the actual date is not important but the actual celebration of his birth is. Just as the "actual" date of Easter is not important but the symbolism involved is. I mean really who the heck cares if Easter falls on the first Sunday following the second full moon of the new year. That is why that changes, but once again NO ONE knows the exact date.

Oh you aul cynic =P

No fishing, just was wondering why of the two big days in the year for Christians one was static and one shifted.

[DragonStryk72]

Oh you aul cynic =P

No fishing, just was wondering why of the two big days in the year for Christians one changed and one shifted.

Sorry, forgot one pertinent point: The liturgical calendar shifts based on events because when it was put into action, there were multiple very different calendars, and so the Church developed it's own calendar using the celebrations of Christ and the saints in order to keep things rolling, since otherwise, there would be some very confusing times for missionaries and churches that existed in locations that used a different calendar, such as China, or simply didn't have one, like most of Africa at the time.

[jimnyc]

Christmas can't be on a Sunday every year as the NFL won't allow it!

[KarlMarx]

May be considered pointless but out of curiosity. I'd there a reason why Chirstians celebrate Jesus' birthday on the same date every year, but Easter changes from year to year depending on what day is near the end of the month etc. is there a reason for that or is it just always how it's been done?

Good question Noir... and I think I have the answer.

First, no one knows when Christ was born, i.e. we don't know the time of year he was born. We know the approximate date of his birth, circa 4-6 B.C. during the time of the reign of Caesar Augustus, but that is as far as it goes. So, why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25th? Because the early church adopted the feast of Saturnalia from the Romans and made it their own. Remember that the early Christians were subjects of the Roman Empire, so this transition would have been an easy one for them to make. That's why we celebrate Christmas on December 25th.... but Christmas was a minor holiday until Victorian times when Charles Dickens penned "A Christmas Carol", King Albert brought to England the first Christmas tree, and Christmas became a children's holiday given to charity, gift giving, and merriment ... much as the ancient Romans did during Saturnalia.....

OK.. so that is my explanation of Christmas... but Christmas is not the most important holiday in the Christian calendar... Easter is. In fact, this holiday was so important to the early church that the argument as to when we were to celebrate it almost broke the church in two... during the first few centuries of the Church the feast of Easter was not celebrated by all churches at the same time... there was a big argument about that in the early Church until the Emperor Constantine called the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 when the computation of the date of Easter was standardized.

Easter is the only Christian holiday that is based on the moon... in fact, the western churches e.g. the Protestants, and the Roman Catholic church, celebrate the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 20th (which at one time was the date of the Vernal Equinox) as Easter... look at a calendar and you'll see what I mean. The Eastern Churches follow the same formula, but since they are still on the Julian Calendar (which lags the Gregorian Calendar by about 11 days or so) they (usually) celebrate Easter on a different day than the Western churches (2011 was an exception).....


(btw... one of the reasons for reforming the calendar under Pope Gregory had to do with keeping Easter around the real vernal equinox.... that's how important Easter is to Christians)


So, WHY do we go to all of the trouble to celebrate Easter by the phase of the moon? Simple answer... because Christ's Death and Resurrection happened during the Jewish Passover and the Jewish calendar is lunar... in fact the first night of Passover is (usually) celebrated on the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

The big argument in the early church was whether to celebrate the feast of Easter based on the Jewish calendar or by some other means... the Council of Nicaea decided on the latter.....

and that's why we celebrate Christmas on December 25th and Easter on....the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 20th....

Oh, one more thing... "Vernal Equinox" is understood as being the Vernal Equinox in the northern hemisphere... if you were in Australia.. then you would use the Autumnal Equinox instead.....

The reforme of Calendar by Pope Gregory is as follows.... The Gregorian calendar differs from the Julian Calendar in that it omits a leap year on every century year, unless the century year is divisible by 400. For that reason, the year 2000 was a leap year.. the year 2100 will not be.. The Julian calendar has a leap year every 4 years regardless.

[LuvRPgrl]

May be considered pointless but out of curiosity. I'd there a reason why Chirstians celebrate Jesus' birthday on the same date every year, but Easter changes from year to year depending on what day is near the end of the month etc. is there a reason for that or is it just always how it's been done?

we celebrate christmas in the winter cuz there isnt anything else to do.
We celebrate easter in the spring, cuz it represents a renewal of birth, life.