It is easy to predict most Western festivals because they fall on the same date each and every year, or at fixed positions like on ?the first Sunday?. However, Easter does not conform to such methodology and is what is known as a moveable festival because the date changes every year. One would thus need to find out each year when is Easter, as it may fall on any date beginning with March 22 and ending on April 25.
Origins Are In Pagan Festivals
There are certain reasons why one need to calculate when is Easter, and these depend on its origins in pagan festivals of yore. The date of when is Easter can be found out from the lunar calendar rather than the normal solar calendar. There have also been some attempts made to change the date of when is Easter away from the pagan lunar calendar, but these have mostly failed due to the low support they were given.
To find out, through calculations, when Easter is, a method known as ?computus? is followed. Computus is nothing more than the Latin equivalent for the term computation, and the method can become quite complex.
Computus was used from the middle ages and was one of the most important computations of that time. According to the canonical rule, Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the 14th day of the lunar month that falls on or later than March 21, which is nominally the day of the vernal equinox.
Finding out when is Easter is very important to Christians, and the proper date has been subject to much controversy, at least from the time that the bishop of Rome and the bishop of Smyrna met. The problem was that if the Roman civil Julian calendar was used, the resurrection of Jesus fell on the Jewish feast of Passover, which was celebrated according to Hebrew lunisolar calendar. It was thus later decided that Christians would use a common method to find when is Easter that would be independent of the Jewish method.
Using present day calculations to find out when is Easter, one can expect the Western date for 2007 Easter Sunday to fall on April 8th and for the next few years it would fall on March 23, 2008, April 12, 2009 and on April 14, 2010. These dates pertain to the Western Easter Sunday and not the Eastern Easter Sunday.
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Every year, just as Halloween passes, and the reality of the impending Christmas shopping season takes residence, the question arises of when is Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving holiday has been celebrated in the United States since 1789, when President George Washington proclaimed that the annual date for Thanksgiving was to be on the last Thursday of November. As the unofficial kickoff of the Christmas holiday season for retailers traditionally begins the day after Thanksgiving, the designation of Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday, rather than the last, provides for a longer holiday shopping season.
The question of when is Thanksgiving has not always had a consistent answer. In 1676, 55 years after the Pilgrims' first feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, had issued the first annual United States Thanksgiving Proclamation. On this date, the council declared that June 29, 1676 was to be a day of Thanksgiving to God for the good fortune they had secured in their new land. While Thanksgiving is traditionally depicted as the feast commemorating the bonds of friendship forged between the English settlers in Massachusetts and the Native Americans celebrated by a three day harvest celebration in 1621. Oddly enough, the language of the original proclamation of 1676 declares a day for praise to God for his blessings and protection against "the Heathen Natives of this land".
On October 3, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln stated that the last Thursday of November "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens". After Lincoln, the following presidents continued to issue a proclamation on an annual basis, declaring when is Thanksgiving, although it always continued to be celebrated and enjoyed on the very last Thursday in the month of November all the way until 1939.
In 1939, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in an attempt to increase merchant spending during the Christmas holiday season, declared Thanksgiving to be on the 4th Thursday of November, as the month of November has 5 Thursdays that year, thereby extending the holiday shopping season. At that time in history, which was also during The Great Depression, it was considered inappropriate to advertise goods as Christmas gifts before Thanksgiving. The following year, 1940, November had 4 Thursdays, and Roosevelt proclaimed that Thanksgiving would fall on the third Thursday of November. At this time, the annual presidential declaration of the Thanksgiving Day holiday was not legally binding so it was up to the individual states to decide when is Thanksgiving, which of course was considered a government holiday.
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Lillian Wills has sinced written about articles on various topics from Culture, Personal Desktop and The Internet. She is a marketing executive for global consumer brands, media, and high tech businesses. She loves writing about shopping, product reviews, fashion, travel, green innovation, arts & entertainment. She spots consumer trends, explores and assembles ideas,. Lillian Wills's top article generates over 201000 views. to your Favourites.