As you get older, topics of conversation change—and this has certainly been the case for me over the last few weeks. I’ve noticed that whenever someone remarks, “Ooo, isn’t Easter late this year?” I can almost hear a little cash register ringing in my head. If I had a pound for every time I heard that, I’d have enough money to buy a very large chocolate egg when the time comes.

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The timing of Easter has never been something I really gave much thought to, until curiosity got the better of me one day. A quick Google search later, I learned that Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. But here’s the twist—the full moon in question is not the one modern astronomers calculate; it’s an ecclesiastical full moon (that is, “of the Church”), which follows its own set of rules. Moreover, for calculating Easter, the spring equinox is always fixed on 21 March, regardless of the astronomical event.

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Take 2025 as an example: the first Sunday after the first full moon following 21 March is Sunday 20 April. These rules also mean that the earliest possible date for Easter Sunday is 22 March—the last time this happened was in 1818 (credit BBC Bitesize).

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So there you have it—a brief dive into the quirky world of Easter’s ever-shifting calendar. And while you probably already knew this, I suspect I’ll forget it all by the time the next “late” Easter rolls around. At least then I’ll be rich enough from all those imaginary pounds to buy an extra-large chocolate egg… or maybe just enough to sweeten my memory of the facts!

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Katy x