EASTER.

Evening Star, Issue 16091, 17 April 1916, Page 2

EASTER.

TO THE EDITOB. Sir,-—Why is the Easter Festival one year as early as March 22 and in another year as late as April 25? Because the reverend fathers of the Council of Nice adopted the moon for determining Easter, hence the extreme variations. Why did the phases of tho moon determine the fixture? According to tho Prayor Book. Easter days (on which all other movable feasts and holy days depend) " is always the first Sunday after the full moon which happens upon or next after the 21st day of March." The moon referred to in the calendar is not the actual moon in the sky, which is full at a definite instant of time, but a fictitious moon, the times of the phases of which are so arranged as not to differ much from those of the actual moon. In adopting the moon tor determining Easter we must go back to the Jewish departure from Egypt. The third new moon after December, and the full of this moon, marks the most ;roportant event that ever occurred in Jewish history (see Exodus, ch. xii.) : "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be "the first month of the year _to you." The Jews were apparently instructed to make a fresh start in their chronology when leaving Egypt and avoid the feasts kept by the pagans. The Jewish and Christian Easter seem.-s ar extraordinary mixture, more extraordinary in these modern times of motors, motor bikes, and garish crowds off to campings and picnics.—l am, etc., F.M. April 15.