EDITOR – AS we take a break the Easter holidays, I would like to ask my fellow Zimbabweans kuti why do the dates for the Easter holidays shift every year?
Surely there must be a reasonable explanation.
Who comes up with these Easter dates?
If Easter is a celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then I would like to think the dates must be fixed, just as people celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ every year on December 25.
So who determines these Easter dates because every year people celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus on different dates?
And what do all the Easter eggs and rabbits have to do with the death and resurrection of Christ?
I hate to think that Easter is just another commercial holiday.
I am an avid reader of The Patriot and enjoy Simba Jama’s articles.
It is my hope that he reads this letter because I am sure he can be able to give me more detail on this Easter subject.
I hope this letter doesn’t provoke anyone, but sometimes we just have to know the truth.
Why are Easter dates not fixed just like Christmas Day on December 25 yet the same holidays are all about Jesus Christ?
CJ Sibanda
Bulawayo
As I am sure you know, Jesus was killed and rose again at the time of Jewish Passover.
We therefore celebrate Easter, based on the timing of Passover.
And Passover is celebrated, not on the Julian Calendar we are familiar with, but based on the timing of the full moon.
So, Easter, in Zimbabwe and many (not all) other countries, falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the equinox.
This year, the first full moon after the equinox (March 20) is April 4, so Easter Sunday is April 5.
It’s easy – even if it is rather complicated
Hope it helps