Spring may feel like a long way off thanks to the the recent snow, but soon people will be enjoying brighter days and warmer weather - and with that comes Easter.
Easter is always on the first Sunday after the first full moon that follows the spring equinox, marking the beginning of spring. In the UK, there are two bank holidays to celebrate the festival and holiday.
But unlike other religious festivals, the date of Easter changes each year.
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What date is Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday dates in 2023?
- Good Friday: Friday, April 7
- Easter Sunday: Sunday, April 9
- Easter Monday: Monday, April 10
When are the school Easter holidays in Liverpool, Wirral, Knowsley, Sefton and St Helens?
- Liverpool: Monday, April 3 to Friday, April 14
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Wirral: Monday, April 3 to Friday, April 14
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Knowsley: Monday, April 3 to Friday, April 14
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Sefton: Monday, April 3 to Friday, April 14
- St Helens: Monday, April 3 to Friday, April 14
Why does the date for Easter change?
Easter is a Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus as described in the Bible.
The Gospels - accounts of the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus that are included in the Bible - place the date of the Crucifixion as Friday, April 3, although mention of an eclipse occurring on that day has created further debate.
The year of the Crucifixion has been worked out to be 33AD by comparing with references to high priest Caiaphas, governor Pontius Pilate and emperor Tiberius Caesar, who all lived around the same time as Jesus.
However, the last week in the life of Jesus, a period known as the Passion, includes a series of connected events that must fall in the right place on the calendar.
These include the Last Supper (on what’s now known as Maundy Thursday) and the Crucifixion (on what we call Good Friday). That was followed two days later by the Resurrection, when Jesus rose from the dead (on Easter Sunday).
It was decided that Easter must always be a Sunday. It has to be the first Sunday following the full moon at Passover, the time of the Last Supper.
However, because the full moon can fall on different days in different time zones, it was decreed that the date would always be taken as the 14th day of the lunar month, and it must always be the next full moon after the Spring Equinox.
This is now called the Paschal Full Moon, and it can vary by two days from the actual full moon. Once that date is known, then the Easter holidays can be given their place on the calendar.
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