Happy Easter - to Everyone

This year, all Christians are celebrating Easter on the same day. If that makes you scratch your head and say, "But we always do that," you don't know any Orthodox Christians.

Easter, of course, is a "movable feast." For most Christians it can occur anytime from late March to late April. If you want to figure out the date for yourself, it's set on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal (spring) equinox. So if the moon is full shortly after March 21, Easter can be very early. If the full moon is almost a month after the equinox, Easter comes later, as it does this year.

But the Christian Orthodox churches have another stipulation. On their calendar, Easter must come after Passover. On years when most of us are celebrating an early Easter, we're celebrating it before Passover, so the Orthodox Easter is held later - sometimes weeks later. This year our Easter is late and comes after Passover, so we're all celebrating it at the same time.

I once worked with a Protestant woman who was married to a Greek Orthodox man. Most years she cooked and did baking for two Easters: first for her family and later for her husband's. Luckily, this wasn't a hardship for her because she loved to bake and cook. By the time I met her, she made a killer baklava.

On the years when there are two separate Easters, I often wish that all Christians used the Orthodox method of figuring the date. It makes sense both historically and theologically to have Easter come after Passover. And it would be nice if we always celebrated the feast together. There's a special feeling of oneness on years such as this one when Easter is Easter for all Christians at the same time.

A note on  my Etsy shop: In the past, I've carried a small selection of Anglican rosaries. But I've become so busy with other lines - not to mention new things I want to try - that I'm phasing them out. I have only one Anglican rosary left in stock, and I've marked it down to a clearance price of $15.00 (regular price was $25.00). It's one of those items that get a lot of "hearts" but for some reason don't sell. It's made of blue sodalite. Here's a picture (you can see more photos as well as a full description if you click on the picture shown here):

Because a number of people have bought Anglican rosaries from me in the past, I don't like to leave such customers "high and dry" so I'm recommending Etsy's AnglicanPrayerBeads shop, which specializes in Anglican/Episcopalian rosaries/prayer beads.