Happy Easter 2018! On this day, Christians commemorate Jesus overcoming death with his resurrection from the grave after his crucifixion on Good Friday. A traditional Easter greeting is, "He is risen!" "He is risen indeed!"
Especially interesting for 2018 is that Passover and Easter fall at the same time. Most scholars agree that Jesus was presiding over a Passover Seder in what would eventually become known as the Last Supper, according to Biblical Archaeology. This line up isn't always the case for these religions because Jewish people use a lunar calendar to determine the date of Passover, which is always the 14th day of the Jewish month Nisan, a fixed date, while, for Western Christians, Easter is always the first Sunday following the first full moon of Spring. This year, the spring equinox occurred on March 20.
During the spring equinox, the sun will move directly over the earth's equator and signal the first day of the astronomical spring, versus the meteorological spring. These are the two ways to measure the seasons: the astronomical way reflects natural phenomena to mark time, while the meteorological way is based on the annual temperature cycle as well as our 12-month calendar.
The meteorological spring begins on March 1, and the meteorological spring always occurs during the vernal equinox, which occurs on March 19, 20, or 21 every year, writes DateAndTime.com. The spring equinox is one of the four seasonal astronomical events that affect the earth. The others include the summer solstice, the autumnal equinox, and the winter solstice, which is also right around Christmas time, Jesus' birthday.
But today we commemorate Jesus' complete life and specifically his betrayal, his crucifixion, and his ascension from the dead.
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