No, you ain’t crazy. It comes really early this year.

When Jesus sat down with his disciples for the Last Supper, it was believed to have been at a feast for Passover, which is celebrated on the first full moon after the vernal equinox. In 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea drew up the “official” Christian calendar. They declared that Easter would be celebrated, in line with Passover, on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox.  But they were using the Julian Calendar, which was slightly too long and which, over the centuries, pushed days further up the calendar, until the peasants complained the crops weren’t growing well and someone realized that something was wrong. So in 1582, a man named Aloysius Lilius presented a new scheme to Pope Gregory XIII, which wiped 10 days off the calendar and refined the calculations for Leap Year to ensure the problem never came back. This new-and-improved Gregorian calendar cleared things up. But since London and Rome hated each other, the British and its colonies didn’t adopt it until 1752, at which point it became the standard for global time-keeping. You got all that?

Yesterday, at 5:58 AM, we reached the vernal equinox (didja feel it?). And the full moon begins this afternoon at 6:41. So this year Easter comes on March 23^rd. This is the earliest it has fallen since 1913 and the earliest you will ever see it: the next March 23^rd Easter falls in 2160. (As for falling on the earliest possible date, the 22^nd, that won’t happen until 2285.) So this is about as cold and dark as it gets.

If all this gives you the shivers, cheer up! Next year, Easter comes on April 12. And if you can’t bear waiting, we suggest you quickly marry a Greek and convert. Orthodox Christians are still using the Julian calendar and will celebrate Easter 2008 on April 27^th. Mmmm, toasty!