When is Easter, Again?

Yes, that's Easter that is showing up at the tail end of your March calendar.

It's the most movable of all our holidays.

Most of the others, we have committed to memory. December 25 and July 4, of course, are static. We also know that Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November. Labor Day, the first Monday in September. Martin Luther King Day comes around the middle of January. Flag Day is June 14. Halloween, October 31.

But Easter?

That's the "little stinker" of holidays.

Sometimes it's in March, most times April. And when it is in April, it's all over the map.

One of the first things I do when I check out at the calendar every year is look up when Easter is.

This is one of those unusual years when Easter falls in March. But why?

You may or may not know this, but Easter is determined by the spring equinox.

Basically, Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox (March 21).

Got that?

It's a moveable feast, as they say.



In Michigan, that means that as far as the weather goes for Easter, you're pretty much on your own---and you really won't know until the sun rises that day.

Remember last March? When the mercury touched 80 degrees? Easter was in early-April in 2012, and the sun was out and the temps were mild and pleasant.

Look outside today. Ya think we're gonna see anything close to mild this Sunday?

We might---if the upper-40s and low-50s are your idea of mild.

The Easter bonnet might have to be replaced with a ski cap.

Regardless of the weather, though, Easter has deep meaning for people of faith. Whether it's sunny and 70 or cloudy and 45, Easter holds the same meaning.

The food is the same, too. I'm sure the ham and potato salad that we will enjoy at our house is going to taste the same, no matter the heat index or wind chill.

Praying will be done in the same manner. Grandmothers will squeeze their little grandchildren the same, and their kisses will be just as slobbery.

This year it all happens in March.

Next year?

Google it.







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