This may be a little late, but I like my holidays to fit the seasons.  The Fourth of July should be hot and sunny.  Halloween should be crisp and cool.  Christmas should be cold and, preferably, snowy.  Easter should be spring-like, with sunny skies, flowering trees, and a hint of warmth in the air.

Unfortunately, because Easter was so early this year, it just doesn’t feel like spring yet.  In some places, it was snowing last week. 

That leads to some comments on why Easter was so early and why Easter and Passoer are so far apart this year.  Usually, Easter and Passover are close together. In fact, for Orthodox Christians, they are always linked. For other Christians, Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring. This year, the spring equinox was on March 20th and the full moon was the 21st, so the 23rd was the first Sunday, making it Easter. Because of the role the equinox plays, the key determinant of the date is the sun. The Jewish calendar is lunar in orientation, which explains why things get out of sync periodically since a lunar month and a solar month differ in length.

Easter won’t be this early again for 100 years.  Next year, spring will be in full force when Easter arrives!