THE DETERMINATION OF EASTER DAY. 



1G5 



March 21, we see at once that, for places adopting a time 

 five hours west of Greenwich (the Eastern Standard Time 

 of the U.S.A.) the moon would he full on March 20. 

 And so, in the circumstances supposed, Easter would he 

 celebrated on a different date, depending on the adopted 

 time at different meridians. This inconvenience is avoided 

 by adopting the artificial moon, no attempt being made 

 in the calendar, either in the date of the vernal equinox, or 

 in that of the full moon, to subdivide the day. These dates 

 may, therefore, be considered applicable to every terrestrial 

 meridian. 



It has already been stated that the decision of the Council of 

 Nicaea, with regard to the determination of Easter, established 

 a close relation between the time of celebration of the Christian 

 Festival and of the Jewish Passover. But under the reformed 

 Jewish calendar, which has been in use since the year a.d. 358, 

 this close relationship does not necessarily exist. For example, 

 the following cases of discordance occur in the years that have 

 elapsed from 1900 up to the present time : — 



Year. Easter Day. Nisan 15. 



1902 March 30 April 22 



1910 „ 27 „ 24 



1913 „ 23 „ 22 



A brief consideration of the Jewish calendar may, therefore, 

 be of interest. 



It is known that in very early times the Jewish year consisted 

 usuallv of twelve lunar months. But it was recognised even 



•J o 



then that for the due observance of the religious ceremonies, 

 many of which were ordained to be observed in relationship 

 with certain seasons of the year, as well as on certain days of 

 the lunar month, the year must be made a luni-solar one. The 

 first effort in this direction was the intercalation of an extra 

 month once in about every three years. Afterwards the more 

 accurate system was adopted of intercalating seven months in 

 every cycle of nineteen years. It appears fairly certain that 

 from the first the new moons, and consequently the commence- 

 ment of the months, were determined by observation. The 

 moon was assumed to be new when the crescent was first 

 visible, and this was considered to be the commencement of the 

 first day of the month. A great deal has been made of David's 

 statement (i Samuel xx, 5), "To-morrow is the new moon," as 

 evidence that a cycle, or some method of computation, was used 



