Why Are Easter and Passover a Month Apart This Year?
January 15, 2008
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Posted by Ray Fowler
Have you ever wondered why Easter and Passover do not always fall together on the calendar? Some years they happen in the same week, but then other years they are a whole month apart. For example, this year Easter is on March 23, 2008, but the Passover does not begin until April 20, 2008.
It all has to do with solar years, lunar months and the Jewish leap year! You can read all about it in the following article: Determining the Dates for Easter and Passover.
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Categories: Easter
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Jewish rule seems to be that Passover must fall after the Vernal Equinox, but on the 15th day of Nissan. When in a given year the new moon near (and before) that equinox is not 15 days earlier than the equinox, then that becomes another month of Adir (a leap month) and Passover is observed on the 15th day of the next month.
But in 2016 the new moons of interest (when the Jewish months begin) are on March 8 and April 7, and the corresponding full moons (14 days later) are March 22 and April 21. Since March 22 falls 2 days after the equinox in 2016, then there is no reason to have a leap month.
Therefore Passover of 2016 ought to be on March 22.
Please explain the error in reasoning above,
Passover is not connected to the equinox (a pagan custom), but to the rabbinical calendar. That calendar, as described above, is a lunar calendar with 12 lunar months, except that every 2-3 years, there is a leap month included to keep the calendar in synch with the seasons. The rabbinical calendar inserts 7 leap months on a 19 year, pre-determined cycle. So out 2016 is one of those 7 years with a leap month.
Why do you use the term ‘Easter’, isn’t that a pagan holiday named after Estare, thus the bunnies and Easter eggs? It has nothing to do with Resurrection….the cross, the last supper, etc.
I agree with everything you’ve stated, however,…..Jesus died on Nisan the 10th, 3 days later, on Nisan the 14th he rose again, and that is one of the feast days, specifically, ‘First Fruits’, thus Resurrection Sunday. We at Pelham Bay Assembly of God, Bronx, NY, will be celebrating Resurrection Sunday on April 22nd, as we should. The Friday before we will have a ‘Seder’, as we have for many years. It is a Passover/Last Supper celebration….awesome, with its menu as was with Jesus and his disciples on his last supper….we are not waiting for a Messiah as the Jews, for our Messiah is Jesus Christ. I wish you could join us.
I wish to correct the date of Resurrection Sunday, it’s Aprill 24, 2016, in my post above.
Incorrect Hedy. Jesus is the Passover Lamb so was crucified on the 14 Nisan, rising 3 days later.
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Great study.
hmmm
nice case study there. and amazingly Easter is also 16th of April this year.
The date is always never same. changes from time to time
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I understand that Passover, Good Friday and the last supper are separate events. Is there any biblical reason/correlation why Passover and Good Friday are close together but seldom celebrated on the same date?
Jeff – Actually they often do fall on the same date. For example, in 2015 and again this year in 2018.