This is pretty random, but I’m writing a science fiction story set in the future, and it would be very helpful if anyone here would be able to tell me, or tell me how to find, the dates for Easter and Ash Wednesday in the year 2228 AD…
As stated earlier, Easter can be as early as March 22 and as late as April 25, but those dates happen rarely.
I don’t know enough about astronomy to explain why those dates come up.
I tried once to figure out a pattern for the date, but it made my head hurt.
My grandmother was born on April 12, 1904. In 1903 Easter was on April 12.
Her 10th, 21st, and 32nd birthdays were all on Easter Sunday.
And then not again until she turned 94. Sadly, she passed away in 2000 so she won’t be around for what would have been her 105th birthday on Easter Sunday 2009.
Easter Sunday 2038 will be on April 25, the latest possible date, but that occurs more frequently than the earliest possible date in our lifetimes.
I think the pattern is first Sunday after the first full moon after spring equinox, or something equally easy to calculate but hard to figure out independently.
Wait, wait, all this fails to take into account the Mayan Calendar. The Mayan Calendar has NO Easter in the year 2228. Easter will be skipped that year, or possible the world will be destroyed before Easter, or both.
Oh, wait, come to think of it, the Mayan Calendar doesn’t have Easter on it any year.
Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon, which is often the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox, but not always.
The full moon in question is determined by the Church, not astronomers. So every few years (a lot of years) you may think it should be Easter, but the Church thought the Full Moon was either earlier or later.
The range of dates for Easter includes 35 days, which is several days longer than the lunar cycle.
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Wow, dad and I really are being shafted then (we were both born on Easter Sundays. Weird, huh?). He was born on April 9th, 1950, and Easter has not fallen on the 9th again since then. It won’t fall on his birthday for a second time until 2023, when he’ll be 73 years old.
I was born april 10th, 1977 and Easter has not fallen on my birthday again. It won’t be Easter on my birthday until 2039, when I’ll be 62.
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I like this sort of site better, since it’s in chart form so you don’t have to check each and ever year by entering it into a search. It’s more useful if you don’t have a single year in mind. http://mcmbednarek.tripod.com/easter.htm