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Roman usage was introduced into Scotland by King Naitan in A.D. 710, and prevailed in Wales by the ninth century. |
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The origin of the name Easter has been attributed since the times of the Venerable Bede (A.D. 725, De ratione temporum 1:5) to the name for an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, variously spelled Eastre, Eostre, or Ostara. Some modern scholars now believe that the goddesses Hreda and Eostre, once much discussed in the mythological literature, may have been inventions of Bede (see Nilsson, Primitive Time-Reckoning, p. 293). |
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A more recent explanation is somewhat more involved. The white garments worn by the newly baptized have long been a feature of Easter and the week following. The names Whitsuntide, Whitmundy, and so on are derived from the word white. Early Christians likewise used the word albae (a plural form of white in Latin) in reference to Easter. One argument, then, has albae misunderstood as alba, the plural of dawn, and then translated into the Old High German plural for dawn, which is eostarun. |
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6.2.3.1.1.10
Western Easter |
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The definition of Western Easter has the consequence that the first day on which Easter can fall is 22 March, and the last day on which Easter can fall is 25 April. |
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6.2.3.1.1.11
Eastern Easter |
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The reader should remember that the Eastern Orthodox Church has elected to use a different system for calculation, with the result that Eastern Easter may either coincide with Western Easter or fall one, four, or five weeks later. |
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6.2.3.1.1.12
A Modern Anticlimax |
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Given the enormous amount of energy expended in conflict over the date of Easter, it may be surprising to learn that some modern proposals to fix the date of Easter by a simple rule have not encountered opposition from most Christian church organizations, most of whom have agreed that no point of religious principle would necessitate opposition to a change that was uniformly agreed upon. |
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Great Britain, for example, passed the Easter Act in 1928, which provides for fixing Easter to be the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April, given certain preconditions. This rule, or a simpler one, the second Sunday in April, is the most frequently suggested one. The two rules are not the same. |
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The attempts to standardize Easter are, historically, part of the calendar reform movement, which gripped certain parts of the business and intellectual communities from about A.D. 1880 to 1940. More details of this movement are supplied in the discussions of the International Fixed Calendar and the World Calendar (Chapter 9, section 9.12.2 and 9.12.3). |
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