Why Is Easter So Late This Year?
You have probably noticed that the date for Easter shifts from one year to the next. I know every year I have to check to see when Easter will occur. Last year (2024), we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus on March 31, but this year (2025), it will be on April 20. That's three weeks later, and you may wonder, like I did, why is Easter so late this year? Why can’t we just pick a date for Easter and stick to it like we do for Christmas?
While the date for Easter changes each year, the method for how that date is chosen does not. When you understand that, then this entire process will make sense to you (hopefully). Let me break down exactly why Easter is so late this year, and help you understand the system that determines when we celebrate the most important event in all human history, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Does Passover Determine the Date of Easter?
Easter and Passover are like two people who live in the same neighborhood and sometimes they end up on the same block at the same time. Many people naturally assume these two celebrations always happen together, and it's easy to understand why. Jesus was crucified and rose again during Passover, so you'd expect these holidays to always line up on the calendar.
But that is now how it works. Even though Easter and Passover share historical connections, they follow completely different rules for setting their dates. That’s why some years they align and some years they don’t.
Passover takes us back to a moment in Israel's history when God's people were slaves in Egypt. God gave them specific instructions to sacrifice a lamb and place its blood on their doorposts. Later that night, the Lord moved through Egypt, and he spared every home marked with the blood, but those without it faced the death of their firstborn. This was the plague that finally broke Pharaoh's hardened heart, causing him to relent and let the Israelites go.
To commemorate this moment, God established Passover as a celebration, a time for every generation to remember how he brought them out of bondage. In the law, God told them when this celebration should happen.
"The Lord’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month" (Lev. 23:5). The first month of the Hebrew calendar, called Nisan (or Aviv), is always in the spring and Passover begins on the 14th day of that month.
Is Easter Based on the Hebrew Calendar?
The calendar used to determine the date of Easter is not the Hebrew calendar, but the lunar one. The date of Easter depends on the spring equinox, the first day of spring, which can occur on March 19, 20, or 21. However, March 21 is used as the spring equinox date to determine the date for Easter.
Easter falls on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox. This is also called the Paschal Full Moon. If this full moon falls on a Sunday, Easter is celebrated the next Sunday. Because that first full moon varies, that’s why the date of Easter varies. Easter Sunday can happen between March 22 and April 25. This year, the Paschal Full Moon occurs on Saturday, April 12, which is why Easter is so late this year and will happen on April 20.
What Does the Spring Equinox Have to Do with the Date of Easter?
You might wonder why March 21 is the basis for determining when Easter will fall. Especially since the spring equinox can happen on one of three days. The answer requires you to go back to the Council of Nicaea. Historically speaking, the first Easter celebration happened when Jesus rose from the grave on the first day of the week. Obviously, no one called it Easter back then.
In the first century church, many believers would gather on the first day of the week as a recognition of the resurrection of Jesus since he rose on the first day. Prior to Jesus’ death and resurrection, many would use Saturday as their Sabbath in recognition of the law of Moses. However, in the first century church, which was composed of both Jews and Gentiles, many of the new Gentile converts to Christianity would not have been aware of the law. Since their salvation was based on the death and resurrection of Jesus, it made sense for them to gather on the first day of the week.
When it came time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, because it originally happened during Passover, many believers celebrated his resurrection around the Passover season. Usually, they would choose the Sunday closest to Passover. During this time, there was no urgency to have a formal date for celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. They simply wanted to remember it.
By the second century, questions started arising about exactly when this celebration should happen. These debates went on until 325 AD when the Council of Nicaea finally settled the matter. They came up with three important rules:
- The celebration must be on a Sunday
- It couldn't fall on the same day as the Jewish Passover
- March 21 would be the fixed date to use for determining when Easter would happen
March 21 was the actual date of the spring equinox in the Julian calendar and since then has been the date that leads into when Easter will occur. Easter will fall on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs after March 21. That’s why Easter can fall between March 22 and April 25 and explains why Easter is so late this year.
Isn’t Easter Born from a Pagan Holiday?
Now that you know how we arrive at the date for Easter every year, let me address an issue that some people bring up when we talk about Easter. Isn’t Easter connected to pagan traditions? You might have heard people mention Ēostre, an Anglo-Saxon spring goddess, or point to Easter eggs and bunnies as proof of pagan roots. But is that completely true and a valid argument?
While the English word Easter might have some connection to this ancient goddess (according to a monk named Bede in the 8th century), that's only part of the story. Christians who don’t speak English don’t use the word Easter; they use Pascha, which comes from the Greek word for Passover. This is a direct connection to a biblical account, not a pagan tradition. Christians have been celebrating Jesus' resurrection for hundreds of years before anyone started talking about Ēostre. That’s why the heart of Easter has always been about celebrating our risen Savior.
Now, what about those Easter eggs and bunnies? Yes, these symbols might have pagan origins. But most Christians today aren't thinking about fertility symbols when they host an Easter egg hunt. Many churches use these activities as a bridge to share the genuine message of Easter with their communities. While some believers might disagree with this approach (you could be one of them), others view it as creating an opportunity to tell people about Jesus' death and resurrection.
I hope it’s clear to you how we arrive at the date for Easter and why it’s so late this year. But let me leave you with one final thought. You don’t have to wait for Easter Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. You can celebrate it every single day. Because Jesus lives, we have the promise of eternal life. But he isn’t just alive somewhere out there; he lives in the hearts of his people (that’s you and me), which is the beauty of the resurrection. It’s not just something we celebrate once a year; it’s something we live in every day. While the official date of Easter may change from year to year, the reason we celebrate never does. We can live in the joy of the resurrection each day, and that is worth celebrating, no matter what the calendar says.
Photo credit: ©Pexels/Alena Koval
Originally published March 28, 2025.
