Easter is April 20th this year?

[MauEvig]

I'm not sure if that qualifies as a "late Easter" or not. I would think so since it's more toward the end of the month, while the following week being the last week of the month (though not the last full week as May runs into Thursday on the last week.
Not sure what plans we'll have yet if any. I might have to work. I really hope not though, but it seems I've had to work every Holiday except Christmas and really lucked out with having Halloween off.
You'd think they'd let it be off being a religious Holiday, but I'm sure the owner will only be thinking of the people who "forgot something" and needs to run to the store. *sigh* Whatever happened to the good old days when if you forgot something, you just had to deal with it until the Holiday was over?
Honestly I'm not religious, but I still enjoy Holidays, and if I had a business, I'd want my employees to be able to spend that time with families and friends, not at work. Bleh. The retail business is just not for me, but I have no choice in the matter.
Sorry for the mini rant. We've been selling peeps like crazy, and have a small assortment of Jelly Beans at the store. (Those Nerds Jelly Beans look really interesting, but I must say Jelly Bellies are my favorite! Too bad they don't have those, but my mom did send me some.) I can't believe how many people buy peeps. My mom sent me down some peeps as well. I might put some on a cake or roast some over a fire. I mean, they're the same thing as Marshmallows, just covered in sugar and shaped like bunnies and baby chicks.

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, Jelly Bellies are for sure the best. I expect you are too young to know this, but Ronald Reagan made them famous. They were his favorite candy. When I heard that, I thought, Jelly beans? Really? Then more stores started stocking that brand, and I bought some. Oh, then I got it! The best jelly beans in the cosmos.

Easter is indeed quite late. I think perhaps it can go as late as April 24 (too lazy to check), but no later. In the Western tradition it falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal (spring) equinox. So there is a range of maybe five or six weeks when it can fall. The Eastern Orthodox church determines it differently.

I have often thought that Easter would be a bigger holiday throughout the culture, more time off etc., if it weren't a movable feast. Since Christmas is always December 25th, it is easier for schools and businesses to plan for it every year.

If you have Hobby Lobby stores up there, they always close on Sundays. So if you could find work with them, you would be assured of that one day off every seven.

[Pumpkin_Man]

I think the latest Easter can be is April 23rd, so that is pretty late. I personally like it better when it's late, because when it comes in early April or late March the weather is usually lousy.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

I always prefer Easter in April. Otherwise I feel I have hardly caught my breath from Christmas.

[Pumpkin_Man]

That's part of the way I look at it, too. March weather is closer to Christmas weather then Spring or Easter weather, and it almost always seems to snow on Easter when it's in March.

And this particular year, I would really like to see Winter gone for good. It's still chilly and windy, but at least it's not snowing. It's supposed to get up to 60 on Sunday, so I am keeping my fingers crossed for that.

Mike

[MauEvig]

I always thought it was kind of strange when Easter fell in March. It always sort of felt like it should be an April holiday.
I also always thought Easter was just supposed to fall the Sunday after the Jewish Holiday passover. I didn't realize the full moon had anything to do with it after Spring started.
I kind of think y'all are right. A late Easter is better. Early Easter kind of creeps up on you with not as much time to plan for it. Plus if you have a late Easter, you know Summer's right around the corner, and you can get outside with all the cool outdoor toys you got from your Easter basket, well assuming you got toys in your basket.
I don't think there's a hobby lobby anywhere near here. I live in the boonies.

[Pumpkin_Man]

MauEvig, Easter usualy does fall in April. It only falls in March on rare occasions, and allways in late March. I still prefer it in April, though and I am hopeful that the weather will be more spring like on the 20th.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

I always thought it was kind of strange when Easter fell in March. It always sort of felt like it should be an April holiday.
I also always thought Easter was just supposed to fall the Sunday after the Jewish Holiday passover. I didn't realize the full moon had anything to do with it after Spring started.

Well, theologically it is very connected to Passover, of course. You might say that Easter is "Christian Passover." But the various calendars are all sort of independent, I think. Easter does usually come close to Jewish Passover, but not always.

I think Passover always falls on "Nisan 15," which can be any day of the week. Not sure how the Jewish months line up with our months. And I know it's a lunar calendar, but I'm not sure if the full moon has anything to do with Passover.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Easter is what you would call a moveable feast. Like Thanksgiving is always on the 4th Thursday of November, Easter is always on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. So it, too is a movable feast, only there's a lot more astronomy involved. The tradition was started mainly because it was during the Jewish Feast of Passover that Christ suffered, died and then rose from the dead.