Monday March 18, 2024

Easter 2023


Easter baskets filled with colorful eggs.
April 2023
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1

April Fools Day
Saturday April 1
-11 months, -17 days
or -352 days

2

Palm Sunday
Sunday April 2
-11 months, -16 days
or -351 days

34567

Good Friday
Friday April 7
-11 months, -11 days
or -346 days

8
9

Easter
Sunday April 9
-11 months, -9 days
or -344 days

101112131415
16171819202122

Earth Day
Saturday April 22
-10 months, -26 days
or -331 days

23242526272829
30

Easter for the year 2023 is celebrated/ observed on Sunday, April 9th.


Easter also called Resurrection Sunday or Pascha is one of the most important days in the Christian faith commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead according to the New Testament. The Easter Triduum or Paschal Triduum starts on the evening of Maundy Thursday with the last supper continuing on through Good Friday and the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ into Holy Saturday and ending with prayers on the evening of Easter Sunday. The day is the beginning of the Eastertide season and the end of Lent (40 days of fasting and prayer starting on Ash Wednesday ending on Holy Saturday) and Holy Week that started on Palm Sunday and lasts 7 days through to Holy Saturday. Although it is not a federal U.S. holiday, many stores are closed or operate minimal hours on this day.

Easter Date

The day of Easter falls on a Sunday based on the lunisolar (sun and moon) calendar, not a fixed date on the Gregorian or Julian calendar.


Easter date each year has been determined to fall on the Sunday after the full moon following March 21 for Western Christians who use the Gregorian calendar (modern calendar). Thus Easter will fall between March 22nd and April 25th inclusive each year. For Eastern Christians who use the Julian calendar (currently runs 13 days behind Gregorian calendar) they have a similar way to determine Easter based on the first full moon after April 3rd thus Easter will fall sometime between April 4th through May 8th each year.


In 325 A.D. at the Council of Nicaea there was an attempt to provide guidance of which we use today to determine the date Easter. They came up with these rules: a) Easter must be celebrated throughout the world on Sunday, b) this Sunday must follow the fourteenth day of the paschal moon, c) and that that moon was to be accounted the paschal moon whose fourteenth day followed the spring equinox, d) and finally that some provision should be made to have a credible authority (like the Church of Alexandria at the time) determine based on these above rules the date of Easter each year for the world [1].

Days to Easter 2023

Sunday, April 9th is day number 99 of the 2023 calendar year with -11 months, -9 days until Easter 2023.



Further Reading:
Encyclopedia Britannica Easter History and Facts
Wikipedia on Easter Easter Day


References:
1.”Council of Nicaea on Easter Date” - New Advent, newadvent.org.

Easter
Name(s):Easter, Pascha, Resurrection Sunday
Type:Observance, Christian
When:First Sunday after a full moon after March 21st

Dates for Easter

HolidayDateDays to Go
Easter 2023 Sunday, April 09, 2023 -344
Easter 2024 Sunday, March 31, 2024 13
Easter 2025 Sunday, April 20, 2025 398
Easter 2026 Sunday, April 05, 2026 748
Easter 2027 Sunday, March 28, 2027 1105
Easter 2028 Sunday, April 16, 2028 1490


CalendarDate.com