March full moon and equinox set date of Easter
(Credit: David. Some rights reserved.)
Friday, March 21, 2008
This month’s full moon comes one day after the 2008 March equinox.
The March equinox signals the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere, and autumn in the southern hemisphere. This full moon gives people in the northern hemisphere their first full moon of spring. And south of the equator, this is the first full moon of autumn.
In North American sky lore, the March full moon is often called the Full Sap Moon or the Full Crow Moon. In the southern hemisphere, where it’s now autumn, tonight’s full moon is the legendary full Harvest Moon, closest full moon to that hemisphere’s autumn equinox.
In the Christian tradition, the first full moon of a northern hemisphere spring is called the Paschal Full Moon. The Paschal Moon is all-important for determining the date of Easter, a movable feast whose date changes from year to year. Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon. It was an early equinox this year – in part due to leap year. And the full moon came one day after. This upcoming Easter on March 23 will be the earliest date for Easter in all of the 21st century.
By the way, the moon is full at precisely 6:40 p.m. Universal Time today. Although the moon is astronomically full for only an instant, it’ll look full all night long tonight, shining from dusk till dawn.
The last time Easter fell on March 23 was in 1913, and the next time won’t be till 2160.
The earliest possible date for Easter is March 22. This last happened in 1818 and won’t happen again until 2285.
The latest possible date for Easter is April 25, which happened most recently in 1943 and will happen next in 2038.
What IS the Equinox? It is “equidistant between the longest day and the longest night. The Spring or Vernal Equinox, and the Autumnal Equinox are two days which are “halfway between the Summer Solstice, and the Winter Solstice”. The Equinox is also a day when the “sunlight shines equally on all parts of the earth”, with “12 hours of day and 12 hours of night everywhere”, even at the poles and equator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinox
Isn’t it interesting that our culture doesn’t explain this simple powerful relationship to us?
We hear about the day in relation to Easter, a Christian Holiday.
Jewish Passover, a religion proceeding Christianity, was also placed on the first full moon of spring. It is an important cosmic date, and religious date. Christianity followed by placing Easter on top of that date.
I appreciate your website, and would also like to see the website describe the tilt and spin of this planet on its course around the sun is the deeper picture upon which or human experience is placed. The Winter Solstice is the same. We recognize the holidays placed in that time of year by all the major religions, but don’t know the simple scientific explaination of it being the longest night, and in fact a time when the earth hangs in that darkest night for 5 days…which I just learned from the Farmers Almanac.
Cool.
Deanne
Deanne,
There are many ways to describe an equinox. You described it yourself in your first paragraph, above. The Earth is moving through space around the sun, and the sun is also moving through space. At certain times in our orbit, the tilt of Earth is such that – as seen from one Earth hemisphere or another – the sun is riding highest or lowest in the sky. The daylight hours are greatest or least. The ancients surely noticed these very profound times of greatest or least daylight. We call them “solstices.”
The equinoxes – as you wrote yourself above – come halfway between the solstices. Then day and night are most equal in length, as seen from all parts of the globe.
I’m not sure what else you’re looking to hear about this event … can you explain what else you’d like to know?
All best,
Deborah
Deanne,
I like your equinox enthusiasm!
Actually, day and night are not quite equal on the day of the equinox for two reasons: (1)the sun is not a pinpoint of light. (2)the Earth’s atmosphere causes the sun to rise few minutes earlier and to set a few minutes later than it would otherwise. Almanacs generally regard sunrise and sunset as the time when the sun’s upper limb touches the horizon.
On the day of the equinox, the sun pretty much rises due east and sets due west everywhere around the world – except at the north & south poles. From the north pole, every direction is south; from the south pole, every direction is north. There is no east or west. At the north pole, you’d see the sun traveling full circle clockwise along the horizon on the day of the equinox. At the south pole, the sun does likewise, except in a counter-clockwise direction.
After the March equinox, the sun won’t set at the north pole again till a few days after the September equinox.
Bruce
What would you say to this moon triggering a lot of births? I am due April 19, but others nor myself believe I will last until then. I am praying on this full moon coming up! Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks and Happy Easter!
KY Girl,
What a fascinating inquiry about the possibility of full moons triggering childbirth! I know next to nothing about any studies on the subject, which seem to be few and far between. I did find these two studies: Lunar phases and incidence of spontaneous deliveries and The influence of lunar phases on the frequency of deliveries. These pages also have links.
Whatever our connection to the moon, the moon and childbirth are magical and mysterious. May you enjoy your moment of magic!
Happy Easter!
Bruce
You say that the earliest day for Easter is March 22nd. If the equinox falls on March 20th, as I presume it can do in leap years, and that happens to be a Saturday, and the full moon is later on the same day, wouldn’t Easter then be on March 21st?
or to put it another way, if the full moon this year had been twenty fours earlier, would it not have been considered as the Paschal full moon?
Happy Easter,
Richard
Richard,
Very, very good question! For the rest of this century, the spring equinox actually falls on March 19 or March 20 Universal Time. So why can’t Easter fall before March 22?
Easter is determined by ecclesiastical rules, not necessarily by the true astronomical equinox and full moon. In most years, there isn’t a discrepancy between an ecclesiastical Easter and an astronomical Easter, but if the two conflict, an ecclesiastical Easter trumps an astronomical Easter.
By ecclesiastic rules, the equinox is fixed on March 21. The Paschal Moon is obtained by ecclesiastical tables, and is not always in accordance with the true astronomical full moon.
Seven times in the 21st century – 2038, 2049, 2069, 2076, 2089, 2095, and 2096 – the ecclesiastical Easter and astronomical Easter fall on different dates. For a more in depth discussion on the subject, read the US Naval Observatory’s The Date Of Easter.
Happy Easter!
Bruce
this is awsome!!