I just found out that this year Easter in the United States has already passed, on April 5th was Easter Sunday. Honestly, I always wondered why the date changes every year instead of being fixed like other holidays.

Apparently, it all has to do with complicated lunar calculations. It turns out that the date of Easter is determined by the first full moon that occurs after March 21st, and Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after that. That’s why it’s never on the same date; it can be between March 22nd and April 25th according to the Gregorian calendar.

This year, the schedule was as follows: Ash Wednesday on February 18th, Palm Sunday on March 29th, Good Friday on April 3rd, and finally Easter on April 5th. Interestingly, Good Friday is a federal holiday in some states like Connecticut and New Jersey, but Easter in general is not, although many businesses still close.

What’s curious is that those who follow the Orthodox tradition celebrated a week later, on April 12th, because they use a different calendar. I had never thought that the date of Easter was so precisely calculated, honestly.