Today’s Question - A seasonal repeat - Who or what determines when Easter falls each year? (Hint: It is based on Passover so you get bonus points for answering both.) Cashin’s Comments March 28, 2018 Page 3 of 3

Reveal Answer Answer - The formula for when Easter falls, as you probably know, is that it shall be the first Sunday on, or after, the first full moon following the Vernal Equinox, the first day of Spring. It was set by the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. which as you remember was called by the Emperor Constantine. Because of the formula's basis in Astronomy, Easter can never be later than April 25 nor earlier than March 22. Passover, on the other hand is on the 15th day of the month of Nisan. Now as you may have guessed, the Council of Nicaea suspected that not everyone's calendar, even with the picture of the two kittens climbing out of a basket, would have the month of Nisan on it. So to avoid bothering their Jewish neighbors by asking each Spring when is the 15th of Nisan, they approximated the date with the above mentioned astronomical formula. Since the month of Nisan always starts on a new moon (as does every month in the Jewish calendar), the 15th of the month would be at - or proximate to - a full moon. That's why the two holidays are usually tied so closely together each year. Passover was on Thursday before the first Easter. (The Last Supper was, in fact, a Seder or Passover ritual meal.) This year, however, Passover will start at sundown on March 30, one of the narrowest spreads ever. Easter is different for orthodox Christians since they use the old Julian calendar, devised by Julius Caesar. This year Orthodox Easter is April 8th (Special thanks to Mr. Joseph Berman for his input on the Biblical Lunar Calendar.)

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