Prior to 325 AD, churches in different regions celebrated Easter on different dates, not always on Sundays. The Council of Nicea in AD 325 made the celebration more uniform by declaring that Easter would be celebrated on Sundays.

The Gregorian Calendar was introduced in 1582 and with it the system of deciding the date of Easter, and the same system has been used continuously since 1583.

Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox - the Paschal Full Moon. This may occur any time from March 21 to April 18, inclusive. So, the date of Easter is anywhere from March 22 to April 25, again inclusive.

The dates of all the feasts associated with Easter are also moveable : Ash Wednesday marking the beginning of Lent, is 46 days before Easter and Ascension day is 40 days after Good Friday with Pentecost (Whit Sunday) ten days after that (that is, seven weeks after Easter Sunday).

If you are interested in the precise calculations of the moveable feasts, you can read all the details by clicking here.

THE ORIGINS OF THE FESTIVAL
Whilst Easter, celebrating the death by crucifixion and subsequent resurrection of Jesus, is the most Christian of festivals, its roots lie deep in Judaeo-Christian and Pagan traditions. Even the church festival is firmly linked to the phases of the moon and the Spring Equinox, and undoubtedly the return of the sun to the northern hemisphere has been celebrated since mankind first studied the skies.

The variations on "Pasch" meaning Easter, such as the French Paques, adjective "Pascal" and the use of the word "Passion" to refer to Easter all have their roots in the Hebrew "Pesach" - the feast of the Passover. It was at the Passover celebrations in Jerusalem that Jesus, a Jew, was arrested, tried and executed. It was because of the holiday that his body was allowed to lie unattended in its tomb from Friday to Sunday - the Passover Sabbath being particularly significant - with a guard to ensure that there was no interference with the body. The discovery of the empty tomb on the Sunday morning and subsequent appearances of the risen Christ have made this the most spiritual of Christian holidays, and even now in this secular age the religious significance of the holiday has not been entirely lost.

Easter has been celebrated since the second century AD, but when Christian missionaries came to try to convert the pagan British, also in the second century, they found a spring festival already in place.

The Norse goddess of spring was Ostara, and she had an Anglo-Saxon counterpart in Eostre: the return of spring was celebrated with a major festival of fertility and rebirth in the goddess's honour. The missionaries were well aware that they would have great difficulty doing away with such a popular festival but it very conveniently coincided with the Christian spring festival - also celebrating rebirth and renewal in the form of the Resurrection - and so they slowly absorbed it as the country became converted to Christianity, and the ancient name was altered to "Easter."

EASTER TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS
Easter Eggs
From the earliest times the egg has been a symbol of rebirth. Decorated eggs were exchanged long before Easter became a Christian festival, as a symbol of fertility. Christians adopted this tradition and the Easter egg became a religious symbol, representing the tomb from which Jesus broke forth and the new life within. In medieval times eggs were traditionally given at Easter to all servants and to the children (eggs were one of the foods forbidden during Lent.)

Nowadays, Easter eggs come in two forms: "real" eggs and chocolate eggs. Real eggs are boiled and decorated in a variety of ways (most schools hold decorated-egg competitions and the imagination of their creators is amazing!) The traditional way is to colour the water the egg is boiled in using vegetable dyes: beetroot makes a good crimson, red cabbage will turn the eggs blue (honestly!) and onion skins produce a particularly pleasing yellow - if the egg is roughly wrappped in the outer skin of an onion and the skin tied on with string, and the egg is then boiled, when the string and onion skin are removed the egg should be beautifully marbled in shades of yellow and orange (of course, you need to use a white-shelled egg for these to work really well, and most British eggs are brown!) If the eggs are to be rolled - and egg-rolling festivities take place just about anywhere with a convenient grassy slope - the eggs need to be VERY hard-boiled.
Chocolate Easter eggs come into the shops shortly after Christmas, much to the annoyance of many shoppers, but are now also a traditional part of the British Easter.

The Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention - the symbol originated with the pagan festival of Eostre. The goddess Eostre was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the hare (rabbits are not indigenous to the British Isles and were not introduced into Britain until the Normans brought them over from Europe to be farmed as a source of meat during the winter months.)

It is still traditonal to wear new clothes at Easter, and this custom goes back to the very earliest days of the church. Converts who were baptized at the Easter Vigil (between Good friday and Easter Sunday) were dressed in a white robe. They would wear that robe throughout the whole of Easter week as a symbol of their new life. Those who had already been baptized did not wear white robes, but would wear new clothes to indicate their share in the new life of Christ. During the Middle Ages, people in their new Easter clothes would take a long walk after attending church on Easter Sunday, and this tradition gradually evolved into Easter Parades and the wearing of "Easter Bonnets."

Easter, like Christmas, is associated with particular food : on Good Friday - the last day of Lent - it is usual to eat fish instead of meat, the Easter Sunday roast is traditionally lamb, and special cakes are made for Easter - Hot-Cross-Buns and Simnel Cake (see"Recipes" page)