Why can't the date of Easter be fixed?

[Darth Penguin]

title from BBC..

Easter is early this year for those in the Western churches on 27 March and late for those in the Eastern churches on 1 May. But why is there still no fixed day for Easter?
The English monk, the Venerable Bede, came up with a nice way of remembering when Easter falls - it's the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.
"Astronomy is absolutely at the heart of setting the date for Easter. It depends on two astronomical things - the spring equinox and the full moon," says Dr Marek Kukula, public astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
Easter is a "moveable feast" and this is the earliest for almost a decade.
That's thanks to the complex system that developed from trying to calculate the date of Easter (and the Jewish Passover) from the heavens and trying to accommodate different calendars, on top of earlier attempts to harmonise how the date of Easter is worked out.
Indeed, The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has said he hopes churches can agree to fix the date of Easter within five to 10 years, following discussions between the leaders of different Christian denominations.
The most common date for the Western churches' Easter is 19 April. The earliest Easter can be is 22 March, and the latest it can fall is 25 April.

[Darth Penguin]

What do you think?

Personally, I'm torn. Sure it would be easier to have Easter as a fixed feast like Christmas but having it move makes for a surprise long week-end if I've not been looking out for it.

In UK, schools tend to have a 2 week break over Easter which is possibly one of the reasons that fixing the date has become slightly more important since it allows holiday makers to plan a quick spring vaccy.

[gryphon]

its because Good friday is usually timed to coincide with Passover since its believed the last supper was a passover seder, Passover is on a fixed date on the Hebrew calendar although the two holidays can fall on different months in a jewish leap year like this year

[Shwa Girl]

I think it is o.k. that the date for Easter changes.
Christmas dates change slightly.
Hanukah dates change too
Eid dates change too.

Not a problem.

[Darth Penguin]

its because Good friday is usually timed to coincide with Passover since its believed the last supper was a passover seder, Passover is on a fixed date on the Hebrew calendar although the two holidays can fall on different months in a jewish leap year like this year

Yup...I know that and I'm pretty sure the Church of England Synod know the history of why as well..

I think the bigger question is ..If Christians have a fixed date for the birth of Jesus..should they also have a fixed date for His death and resurrection? Or keep the the whole movable feast method that they have followed for over 1500 years intact.

[Darth Penguin]

I think it is o.k. that the date for Easter changes.
Christmas dates change slightly.
Hanukah dates change too
Eid dates change too.

Not a problem.

AFAIK, Christmas is December 25th..How and when has it changed in the last 1500 years??

[Natalka]

I don't mind Easter being a changing date, but it's tough when there is the five week swing, such as this year, between the two calendars.

Lots of Ukrainian Catholic parishes/eparchies have changed to the Gregorian calendar, but there are still some on the Julian. For example, in our city, two parishes are on Gregorian, yet the Cathedral is on Julian.

However, I don't think Ukrainian Orthodox churches would ever change from the Julian calendar.

[abbasgirl]

Yup...I know that and I'm pretty sure the Church of England Synod know the history of why as well..

I think the bigger question is ..If Christians have a fixed date for the birth of Jesus..should they also have a fixed date for His death and resurrection? Or keep the the whole movable feast method that they have followed for over 1500 years intact.

Christmas is on a fixed date because no one knows the exact date when Jesus was born. The fact that Easter coincides with the Passover season is a central part of the Easter story.

[GoJays]

It's a conversation starter..... "Do you know when Easter is this year?"