How often does Easter coincide with (fall within) Passover week?
436184
Not often, but it does this year. The thing that is really fascinating about this years is that the calander dates are exactly the same as they were in 30 AD which is the year that most now believe christ was crucified. the actual day was Nissan 15th and and resurection was on Nissan 17th. This equates to April 6th (Wed-thurs) and res. on April 8th (Fri-Sat) giving us a Sabbath resurection. Based on the lunar calander the crucifixion is celebrated on 13th and the reurection on the 15th. It appears as two days but their days are sunset to sunset. This is very unique in the fact that this year is the exact dates and lunar schedules of 30 AD.
676741
EASTER NOT FOUND IN THE BIBLE\n"The English word 'Easter' came from the Anglo-Saxon Eastre or Estera, a Teutonic goddess to whom sacrifice was offered in April, so the name was transferred to the Pashal Feast. The word does not properly occur in Scripture although the AV (King James Translation) has it in ACTS 12:4 where it stands for 'Passover' as it is rightly rendered in RV (Revised Version). There is no trace of Easter celebration in the New Testament..." (INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPEDIA VOL.2, P.889). The word 'Easter' has confused some but the word in the original form is "Pascha" meaning "Passover". It occurs 29 times in the New Testament & everytime it's translated Passover except in Acts 12:4. If you read carefully (ACTS 12:1-4); it says that Herod killed James and was trying to kill Peter in an effort to "vex the church"(Please the Jews). Then in VERSE 3 "were the days of unleavened bread"; see LEV.23. He put him in prison intending to try him "after Easter" (KJV). Now if Herod was trying to "please the Jews" & "vex the church" Why would he have delayed the trial until after 'Easter?'" BY GROVER STEVENS (WWW.BIBLEANSWER.COM/EASTER2.HTM) If this was a "christian holy day", especially one in honoring Christ's resurrection, he would surely not be pleasing the Jews, Wouldn't it be more pleasing to the Jews to vex the church by killing one of it's Apostles on it's own "holy-day," would it not?\n\nORIGIN OF EASTER: WHERE DID IT COME FROM?\nEaster was never observed by the Apostles of Christ or Christ's Religion. "The name 'Easter' comes to us from the mythlogical writings of the Ancient Teucrians (who lived 1200BC along the southern coast of Palestine) where it's known as 'Ostern'" BY GROVER STEVENS. "The name 'Easter' is merely the slightly changed English spelling of the name of the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian idol goddess, Ishtar (pronounced eesh-tar)." WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY says "Easter is from the pre-historic name of a pagan spring festival." THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY says, "Easter is derived from the name of goddess whose feast was celebrated at the vernal equinox." THE SCHOLARY NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA says, "This goddess is also widely known as Astarte...The cult originated in Babylonia and spread to Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria & Palestine, then through the Phoenicians to all of the Meditteranean peoples...Ishtar was in fact primarily and chiefly identified as Venus, the most beautiful of celestial objects & from the terrestrial side, the primarily motive of the worship of Ishtar was the impulse to deify sensuous and sensuality." ALEXANDER HISLOP SAYS IN THE TWO BABYLONS (P.103), "Easter bears its Chaldean origin on its forehead. Easter is nothing else than Asarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven..."\n\nVERSES-- DEUT.4:19,28-31; 11:26-28; 17:3 & GAL.4:8-10.\n\n\nINFORMATION ABOUT THIS TOPIC AND OTHER PAGAN DAYS IN--\n\nWWW.PANTHEON.ORG/ARTICLES/I/ISHTAR.HTML\nWWW.INFOPLEASE.COM/SPOT/EASTERINTROL.HTML\nwww.goddessgift.com/pandoras_box/easter-history.htm\nWWW.RETAKINGAMERICA.COM/EASTER_AND_ISHTAR.HTML\nWWW.SABBATARIAN.COM/PAGANISM/PAGANHOLIDAYS.HTML\nWWW.YAHWEHSWORD.ORG/11_PAGAN_HOLIDAYS_1.HTML\nWWW.LASTTRUMPETMINISTRIES.ORG/TRACTS/TRACT6.HTML\nWWW.BIBLESTUDY.ORG/BASICART/VALENTIN.HTML\nHOME_SPRYNET.COM/~PABCO/STVALEN.HTM\n"ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA", ART., "CUPID".\n\nGOT ALL INFORMATION IN WEBSITE BELOW--
416707
A friend once told me, "Easter is on a sunday this year". I let it slide.
234560
I've know about the pagan link between the Easter Bunny and fertility and such for a while.  Here's some other websites I've found:\nhttp://www.easterbunnys.net/easterbunnyhistory.htm\nhttp://wilstar.com/holidays/easter.htm\nhttp://www.chiff.com/a/easter-bunny.htm\n\nPretty much, it seems we get the word Easter from the German holiday that used to take place at about the same time of year.  Easter falls close to Passover - the story of Jesus on the cross takes place in the new testament immediately following the last supper, which was a Passover feast.\n\nBasically, the early Christians borrowed symbols from pagan religions for all of their holidays.  Many Christmas traditions stem from these rituals as well.
472158
on palm Sunday or the Sunday before the resurrection when Jesus was going back to Israel he asked his followers to bring him a clean young donkey to carry him into the city \nfor the passover festival \nresurrection is the day (Easter Sunday) the Jesus rose from the dead \ni hope this helps if not then read the bible \nhave a happy and holy Easter weekend
290282
Well, not always. There are only 35 different days on which Easter can fall, and people have been celebrating Easter on Sunday for more than 35 years, so there have been some duplicates.\n\nEaster falls on the Sunday following the first full moon on or after the Spring equinox. Since the Spring equinox usually falls on March 21, if there is a full moon on that day then and if it is a Saturday, Easter can be as early as March 22. Easter can also be as late as April 25.\n\nThis year, there was a full moon on March 14 (too early) and there will be one on April 13 (just right). Easter is the Sunday following, April 16.
301096
In the Western churches, the date of Easter is set (more or less) as the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs next after the vernal equinox.  The vernal equinox, of course, is the event that begins spring, on or around March 21 each year.\n\nI say "more or less" because there are some other minor considerations for which church officials over the centuries have actually spent a great deal of time and effort in drawing up rules, tables, pronouncements, etc.  For most years, however, the above statement is the rule.
273685
Easter is an annual festival observed throughout the Christian world. The date for Easter shifts every year within the Gregorian Calendar. The Gregorian Calendar is the standard international calendar for civil use. In addition, it regulates the ceremonial cycle of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. The current Gregorian ecclesiastical rules that determine the date of Easter trace back to 325 CE at the First Council of Nicaea convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine. At that time the Roman world used the Julian Calendar (put in place by Julius Caesar). \n\nThe Council decided to keep Easter on a Sunday, the same Sunday throughout the world. To fix incontrovertibly the date for Easter, and to make it determinable indefinitely in advance, the Council constructed special tables to compute the date. These tables were revised in the following few centuries resulting eventually in the tables constructed by the 6th century Abbot of Scythia, Dionysis Exiguus. Nonetheless, different means of calculations continued in use throughout the Christian world. \n\nIn 1582 Gregory XIII (Pope of the Roman Catholic Church) completed a reconstruction of the Julian calendar and produced new Easter tables. One major difference between the Julian and Gregorian Calendar is the "leap year rule". See our FAQ on Calendars for a description of the difference. Universal adoption of this Gregorian calendar occurred slowly. By the 1700's, though, most of western Europe had adopted the Gregorian Calendar. The Eastern Christian churches still determine the Easter dates using the older Julian Calendar method. \n\nThe usual statement, that Easter Day is the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs next after the vernal equinox, is not a precise statement of the actual ecclesiastical rules. The full moon involved is not the astronomical Full Moon but an ecclesiastical moon (determined from tables) that keeps, more or less, in step with the astronomical Moon. \n\nThe ecclesiastical rules are: \n\nEaster falls on the first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after the day of the vernal equinox; \nthis particular ecclesiastical full moon is the 14th day of a tabular lunation (new moon); and \nthe vernal equinox is fixed as March 21. \nresulting in that Easter can never occur before March 22 or later than April 25. The Gregorian dates for the ecclesiastical full moon come from the Gregorian tables. Therefore, the civil date of Easter depends upon which tables - Gregorian or pre-Gregorian - are used. The western (Roman Catholic and Protestant) Christian churches use the Gregorian tables; many eastern (Orthodox) Christian churches use the older tables based on the Julian Calendar. \nIn a congress held in 1923, the eastern churches adopted a modified Gregorian Calendar and decided to set the date of Easter according to the astronomical Full Moon for the meridian of Jerusalem. However, a variety of practices remain among the eastern churches. \n\nThere are three major differences between the ecclesiastical system and the astronomical system. \n\nThe times of the ecclesiastical full moons are not necessarily identical to the times of astronomical Full Moons. The ecclesiastical tables did not account for the full complexity of the lunar motion. \nThe vernal equinox has a precise astronomical definition determined by the actual apparent motion of the Sun as seen from the Earth. It is the precise time at which the apparent ecliptic longitude of the Sun is zero. (Yes, the Sun's ecliptic longitude, not its declination, is used for the astronomical definition.) This precise time shifts within the civil calendar very slightly from year to year. In the ecclesiastical system the vernal equinox does not shift; it is fixed at March 21 regardless of the actual motion of the Sun. \nThe date of Easter is a specific calendar date. Easter starts when that date starts for your local time zone. The vernal equinox occurs at a
424244
"The English and German names, "Easter" and "Ostern", ... are instead related to ancient names for the month of April, Eostremonat and Ostaramanoth respectively. According to the 8th century Christian monk and historian Bede, this month was dedicated to the pagan fertility goddess Eostre. The Easter Bunny is often identified as a remnant of this fertility festival, although there is no evidence of any link."\n\nIn other languages the name for "Easter" is derived from the hebrew "Pesach" for the Passover holiday (ex french: Pâques, spanish: Pascua).  Only in the Germanic languages is it based on the older holiday.
881662
No.  Easter is ALWAYS the first Sunday after the first full moon  after the first day of Spring.  That was probably decided eons ago by the Catholic Church.   There is rhyme and reason to holidays.\nMemorial day is the last Monday in May, Labor Day the first Monday in September.  Thanksgiving the 3rd Thursday in November.  Those are American dates and were decided by Congress.\n\nBut you get the picture on why the date may be different, right?\n\nI guarantee your birthday will be on Easter once again.  Here is a great website that goes up to the year 9999 for Easter dates.\n\nAnd yeah, below is right, I forgot my Catholic School lessons on the date and I had a brain fart.  Of course it is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of Spring.  \n\nMy daughter's birthday is April 16 and she is 22 and I believe Easter has fallen on her birthdate 3 times.\nEaster can be no earlier than March 22 and no later than April 25.  I went up to the year 2040 and Easter did not fall again on your birthday.  I can't give you an explanation for that.
82602
Easter is based in part on the Hebrew calendar, which uses the lunar cycle, rather than the solar cycle used in the West.  Therefore, the date of Easter will fluctuate throughout the solar year, similar to the way the Chinese new year does, which is also based on a lunar calendar.
350758
Yep. And Easter is a pagan celebration of spring.
136642
Not a thing. Before Christians appropriated it, Easter was a fertility festival, and it is clear how bunnies and eggs would factor into that. The paganism of the holiday never really went away, even after Christians began calling it Easter.
296732
EASTER A BRIEF HISTORY\n\nThe name “Easter” comes to America from Ostera or Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring. The origin goes back to 2000 BC in Babylonia honoring the goddess of spring Ishtar. Ishtar the mother/wife of their god Tammuz brought him back from the underworld. In Phoenecia she became Astarte, in Greece Eostre, and in Germany Ostara. Consider also a Phrygian honoring Attis and Cybele or a heretic Israelite honoring the Canaanite Baal and Ashtoreth. All of these are fertility celebrations of death and resurrection.\n\nEASTER IN THE KING JAMES\n\nThe word “Easter” occurs in the King James Bible ONE TIME and is mistranslated. It should be translated PASSOVER.\n\nActs 12:4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. \n\nEaster G3957 pascha (pas'-khah) Of Chaldee origin (compare [H6453]); the Passover (the meal, the day, the festival or the special sacrifices connected with it): - Easter, Passover.\n\nH6453  pesach (peh'-sakh) From H6452; a pretermission, that is, exemption; used only technically of the Jewish Passover (the festival or the victim): - passover (offering).\n\nH6452 pasach (paw-sakh') A primitive root; to hop, that is, (figuratively) skip over (or spare); by implication to hesitate; also (literally) to limp, to dance: - halt, become lame, leap, pass over.\n\nTHE ORIGINAL PASSOVER A SHADOW\n\nExo.12:23 For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. Exo.12:24 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. Exo.12:25 And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as He hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. Exo.12:26 And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? Exo.12:27 That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD'S Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. \n\nWhat did it say in Exo.12:26? What mean ye by this service?\n\nWhat did it say in Exo.12:27? It is the SACRIFICE of the LORD'S Passover.\n\nThis was a shadow, that is a silhouette or likeness, of Christ’s crucifixion. Israel was in bondage to the Egyptians. We were in bondage to sin.\n\nCHRIST OUR PASSOVER\n\nI Cor.5:6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? I Cor.5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: I Cor.5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. \n\nChrist our Passover is SACRIFICED for us.\n\nIT IS PROBABLY TRULY DISGUSTING TO FATHER \n\nAs with most Christian holidays, Easter has been secularized and commercialized. We have Easter bunnies, eggs, baskets, bonnets, parades and etc. \n\nKnowing now the origins of Easter, the fallacy of Easter and the sacrifice Christ made for us; I am truly ashamed of myself. We should not be celebrating Easter. We should be celebrating Christ our Passover with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. \n\nWhat is your answer to a child who asks, “What mean ye by this service?” I pray your answer is not Easter.\n\nWhat does God think, about what He sees and hears during this special time of year?
334424
Before I answer the question I would just like to tip my hat to Mommyofive. Bravo, you know what you believe and why you believe it. You don't see that much these days ammong christians or even ammong my fellow pagans. \n\nTo answer your question Easter (also called oster or Ishtar) was a pagan firtility holiday that had practical uses in the region that it was observed. Keeping the pagan beliefs while changing the emphasis helped to bolster the early church as well as preventing a disruption of the traditions. Personally though, I would have put Xmass there as Jesus was born in Feb or March rather than the middle of winter.
932026
There is more than one liturgial calendar, different denominations use different ones... however... one resource for you is textweek.com it does the lectionary online, so does Vanderbuilt University.  The seasons are similar; Advent (Dec. 3-24, 2005) is purple (or blue), Christmas (Dec. 25- varies) is White, Lent (Feb. 21-April 4) is purple, Good Friday is often Black. Easter (Apl. 7 - varies) is white, common time is Green (your right) and Pentecost (May 27) is Red.
1177080
Easter Sunday was on  March 27th, 2005