Sunday, March 23, 2008

A Special Easter


And so the big day is here. The Easter bunny arrived, bringing chocolate cheer for our daughter's special day -- her 18th birthday. See Blackboard Jingle.

Last night, as she headed out to say farewell to 17, we observed the full moon and discussed how early Easter was this year. I noted that this may be the only time that she celebrates her birthday on Easter, so it was truly a special day for her.

I decided to do a little research & discovered that it was true:

In the Christian tradition, the first full moon of a northern hemisphere spring is called the Paschal Full Moon. The Paschal Moon is all-important for determining the date of Easter, a movable feast whose date changes from year to year. Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon. It was an early equinox this year – in part due to leap year. And the full moon came one day after. This upcoming Easter on March 23 will be the earliest date for Easter in all of the 21st century.

The last time Easter fell on March 23 was in 1913, and the next time won’t be till 2160.
From Earth & Sky, March full moon and equinox set date of Easter.

So Happy Birthday Easter to you, kooky.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy day. Lovely daughter. And officially the end of the period when you can take the credit for what a fine person she is. So, M/M Judi, congrats to you both, too!

JudiPhilly said...

Well, she definitely proved that she's her own person.

Her first official act was getting a tattoo. Took some work finding someplace that was open on Easter -- but South Street is not just where all the hippist meet anymore.