ICONIC April 2016 | Page 6

WHY IS EASTER SO EARLY AND WHY IS PASSOVER SO LATE THIS YEAR? By Vicki Hyman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com I f Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the first Sunday following the first night of the festival of Passover, then why are Easter and Passover nearly a month apart this year, with Easter on March 27 and the festival of Passover beginning the evening of April 22? The start of Passover, which celebrates the Israelite exodus from Egypt, falls on the same day of the Jewish calendar every year — the eve of the 14th of Nissan — but because Jews use a lunar calendar, they must insert a so-called “leap month” every two or three years to keep their holiday cycles in tune with the seasons. This year, there are two months of Adar, the month that precedes Nissan. Though Easter is closely associated with Passover, over the centuries, church authorities in various corners of the Roman Empire have disagreed about when to celebrate it, says Rev. Lawrence Frizzell, the director of Seton Hall University’s Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies. In Asia Minor and partic- 6 PAGE | ICONIC MAGAZINE