Click to ENLARGE. Base image from ‘Wikimedia Commons‘.
Passover, in our times, can fall between March 26 and April 25.
So, April 22 is towards the end of that scale, but not at the very end.
Others years, in recent times, Passover has been in late April.
So, last time it fell on April 22 wasn’t that long ago, viz., 2016. Just 8 years ago. Prior to that 1959. That was a 57-year gap. The longest gap in the last 200 years.
Please don’t ask me to explain how the date for Passover is calculated. I have NO clue. I have a hard enough time trying to work out how Easter is calculated.
Click to ENLARGE. From an Excel Spreadsheet I maintain.
IF you know your Christianity you appreciate that the two holidays are related & as such it is no great surprise that they can — or should — overlap or coincide.
For those that haven’t thought about it the Crucifixion happened just after Passover. Jesus had come to Jerusalem for Passover. The last supper is believed to have a Passover connection.
Hence the connection. In early Christianity Easter was celebrated at the same time as the Passover.
Easter Sunday, per the ‘latest’ formula, can fall between March 22 (the day after the nominal ‘March 21’ Spring Equinox) and April 25.
However, Easter Sunday can NEVER COINCIDE with the start of Passover! The formula used to calculate Easter has this built-in.
So, it is always GOOD FRIDAY that can coincide with the start of Passover — and never Easter per se.
They coincided last year, i.e., Christian Good Friday & the start of the Jewish Passover falling on the same day (which, of course, has to be a FRIDAY). This happens more often that you probably realized. It happened back-to-back, in 2018 & then 2019. Do you remember that? It had also happened in 2012 & 2015.
It will happen again in 2029.
Not so this year, i.e., 2023. Passover started two days BEFORE Good Friday.
The Passover holiday is celebrated over 7 days. So, Passover this year will overlap Easter. That is quite common. Again, remember the CONNECTION.
Click to ENLARGE. Years when Good Friday & Passover coincide.
Click to ENLARGE.
This happens more often that you probably realized, i.e., Christian Good Friday & the start of the Jewish Passover falling on the same day (which, of course, has to be a FRIDAY).
It happened back-to-back, in 2018 & then 2019. Do you remember that? It had also happened in 2012 & 2015. So, this is the 5th time in the last 11 years.
However, given that the two holidays are related it should not come as a great surprise that they do fall, close together.
For those that haven’t thought about it the Crucifixion happened just after Passover. Jesus had come to Jerusalem for Passover. The last supper is believed to have a Passover connection.
Hence the connection. In early Christianity Easter was celebrated at the same time as the Passover. So that they fall together, per a now very convoluted and artificial formula used by the Western Church, is to be expected.
Easter Sunday, per the ‘latest’ formula, can fall between March 22 (the day after the nominal ‘March 21’ Spring Equinox) and April 25.
However, Easter Sunday can NEVER COINCIDE with the start of Passover! The formula used to calculate Easter has this built-in.
So, it is always GOOD FRIDAY that can coincide with the start of Passover — and never Easter per se.
