The Curious Link Between Easter, the Equinox, and the Moon
Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the “paschal full Moon.” In simple terms, this is the first full Moon immediately following the vernal (spring) equinox. However, that’s not the full story because Easter isn’t based on the actual Moon or equinox date! We’ll explain the curious connection between the Moon and Easter.
How Does Easter Relate to the Full Moon?
Easter is what’s known as a “movable feast”—in other words, a religious holiday that may fall on a different calendar date from year to year.
→ See our Easter holiday page to learn more about Easter’s date, Easter traditions, recipes, and more.
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The date of Easter is tied to the relationship between the Paschal Full Moon, whose dates are based on calculations made long ago, and the Church’s fixed date of the March equinox (also called the spring or vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere), which is March 21. Thanks to this, determining when Easter will be can get more than a bit confusing because of the occasional differences between these ecclesiastical dates and the astronomical dates.
Here’s a basic rule of thumb for finding the date:
“Easter is observed on the Sunday following the first full Moon that occurs on or after the March equinox.” Occasionally, the Church’s dates will not coincide with the astronomical dates, in which case this basic rule would not apply.
For example, if the equinox were to occur on March 21 and the full Moon were to occur two days later, on March 23, Easter would be observed on the first Sunday after March 23.
However, thanks to the motions of our planet and the Moon, as well as the inelasticity of calendars, calculating Easter’s date can get more complicated sometimes! Read on to learn more…
A Difference of Dates
The biggest cause of confusion regarding Easter is the tangled web of dates that are used to determine the holiday. If you take the rule given above at face value, things don’t always work out quite right.
This is exactly what happened in 2019. The March equinox occurred on March 20 at 5:58 P.M. EDT, with the full Moon reaching its peak four hours later, at 9:43 P.M. EDT. But wait—that means that the full Moon and the March equinox happened on the same date, which should have landed Easter on Sunday, March 24, right? Well, not quite.
The dates of the full Moon and the March equinox that are used to calculate Easter are not the astronomical dates of these events, but rather the ecclesiastical dates.
- The astronomical dates of the full Moon and the March equinox are the actual, scientifically determined dates of these events. For example, the equinox occurs at the exact moment when the Sun crosses Earth’s equator, when day and night are approximately equal. Similarly, the full Moon occurs when the Moon reaches peak illumination by the Sun.
- The ecclesiastical dates of the full Moon and the March equinox are those used by the Christian Church. They were defined long ago in order to aid in the calculation of Easter’s date, which means that they may differ from the astronomical dates of these events.
In A.D. 325, a full Moon calendar was created that did not take into account all the factors of lunar motion that we know about today. The Christian Church still follows this calendar, which means that the date of the ecclesiastical full Moon may be one or two days off from the date of the astronomical full Moon.
Additionally, the astronomical date of the equinox changes over time, but the Church has fixed the event in its calendar to March 21. This means that the ecclesiastical date of the equinox will always be March 21, even if the astronomical date is March 19 or 20.
Due to these rules, in 2019, the ecclesiastical full Moon occurred before the ecclesiastical Vernal Equinox, which meant that Easter would not be observed until after the next full Moon (the Paschal Full Moon) in mid-April. Thus, Easter was celebrated on Sunday, April 21, 2019.
Fun Fact: “Paschal” stems from Pascha, the Greek and Latin word for Passover.
When Is the Paschal Full Moon in 2024?
Technically, the Paschal Full Moon occurs on the 14th day of the lunar month that occurs on or after March 21, according to ecclesiastical calculations using the Metonic cycle. But in many cases, it coincides with the astronomical full Moon on or after the actual March equinox.
Using the astronomical dates for 2024, the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere occurs on Tuesday, March 19. The first full Moon to occur after that equinox date is March’s Full Worm Moon, which reaches peak illumination on Monday, March 25, at 3:00 A.M. Eastern Time. According to this general guideline, this makes March’s full Moon the Paschal Full Moon, and therefore, Easter will be observed on the first Sunday after March 25: Sunday, March 31!
How Late Can Easter Be?
For the Western Christian churches and others that use the Gregorian calendar for their calculations, Easter can occur as early as March 22 and as late as April 25.
For the Eastern Orthodox churches and others that use the Julian calendar for their calculations, the observance can occur between April 4 and May 8 in the Gregorian calendar.
→ Learn more about how to calculate the date of Easter.
Which Full Moon is Nearest to Easter?
The full Moon nearest to Easter can change. Sometimes, it’s the full Moon that occurs in March, and sometimes it’s the full Moon that occurs in April.
In 2024, March’s full Moon (March 25) will be nearest to Easter (March 31).
→ See more information about March’s Full Worm Moon.
2024 Moon Wall Calendar
Want to enjoy the beautiful Moon year-round? Check out our Moon Wall Calendar here!
Catherine Boeckmann
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What kind of trees are those in the picture? They look pink on my screen. My guess is cherry blossoms but as I say, my guess. Please start listing the specific names of the flowers, trees. and other plants that are in these beautiful pictures. Never been much on plants, only vegetable ones, and are not familiar with them. I do very much enjoy looking at them and often think of getting some of them. Please list the plant name under the pictures for those of us not in the know. Thanks.
I think those are Japanese Cherry Blossom Trees.
What kind of trees are those in the picture? They look pink on my screen. My guess is cherry blossoms but as I say, my guess. Please start listing the specific names of the flowers, trees. and other plants that are in these beautiful picture. Never been much on plants, only vegetable ones, and are not familiar with them. I do very much enjoy looking at them and often think of getting some of them. Please list the plant name under the pictures for those of us not in the know. Thanks.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, we do not refer to the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord as "Easter." We call it the Pascha of our Lord. It is preceded by a lengthy period of fasting and other spiritual disciplines.
We also do not regard Sunday as the Sabbath, but as The Lord's Day. It is a mini-celebration of the Resurrection throughout the year.
That said, I see nothing wrong with taking a pagan holiday and repurposing it to a Christian use. Also, it is clear from the book of Acts that non-Jews are not required to become Jewish in order to become fully Christian. Therefore, expecting them to learn all the minutiae of Jewish law, calendar, custom, etc., is not called for.
Of course there were not the formal ecclesiastical celebrations of the traditional Christian holidays in the time of the Apostles! The Church was not yet fully established, and it was under great persecution. But Scripture also instructs us to do things in good order. In the beginning, the Resurrection was probably celebrated in conjunction with Passover. As the Church established itself as a separate entity from Judaism, it naturally developed its own traditions and Holy Days and seasons. By the second century, the Pascha of Our Lord was beginning to be celebrated separately, as evidenced by a mid-2nd-century Paschal homily by Melito of Sardis.
Christ told HIS apostles that just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for 3 FULL Days aka 72 HOURS, so HE would be in the grave for same length of time. That said, HE was Crucified on Wednesday afternoon, Buried BEFORE Sundown, & Resurrected AFTER Sundown Saturday!! Jewish Day starts at SUNDOWN not midnight each day. Sooooo, HE was in the grave ALL day Thursday*Friday*Saturday....not just portions of those 24 hour periods.
People really need to Research the Truth instead of just taking a human's word as "gospel"!
Passover is a High HOLY Day. It started at Sundown Wednesday aka beginning of Thursday during this timeline in history. Thursday was a day of Rest, just as the 7th Day Sabbath*Saturday is & Wednesday*Friday were the Preparation days for those Sabbaths.
***Ishtar aka "easter" is a Pagan celebration the UNholy Roman system adapted giving it a "christian" definition. Nowhere in the Early Apostolic*Christian church History was this or any other so called "christian" Holliday kept!!
We do realize that Christ died on the Friday of Passover week, and rose again on the Sunday. Since Passover follows the lunar cycle, we can more easily peg when Easter is celebrated by the Christian church by remembering it is actually tied to Passover week.
is the Satao/Shutterstock print available for purchase
It's an interesting article. But you left out that Easter was originally a Pagan holiday and this is why the moon cycle is involved. It's Pagan names are Ostara or Roster. It has to do with the Earth coming alive again and fertility, hence the bunnies, chicks and eggs.
Thank you for the insightful and thoughtful article, much needed at this juncture of time.
Great article! Thank you. Must also say the first picture showing the gorgeous cherry blossoms and the full moon is absolutely stunning !! (where might that be?)
