When is Easter this year?

CHOCOLATE eggs and bunnies are dominating supermarket shelves – but when exactly do we celebrate Easter?

Even if you’re not religious there’s still plenty of reasons to look forward to the event, especially four days off work.

But the date it falls is particularly confusing as it is never fixed and changes according to the lunar calendar.

The key dates for Easter 2017 are: Palm Sunday April 9 Good Friday April 14 Holy Saturday: April 15 16

Easter Sunday: April Easter Monday: April

17

So why does the date for Easter change every year?

Easter is a Christian feast day - which are sig- nificant days in the life of Jesus Christ or saints. But unlike most days in the Christian calendar, Easter does not have a fixed date.

Easter feast days are moveable days, in that they don’t fall on a fixed date in the normal Gregorian or Julian calendars, which follow the cycle of the sun.

Easter instead is determined by the lunar calendar, which is based on the phases of the moon.

Easter is scheduled to fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox around April 14.

The Spring, or March, Vernal Equinox is the moment the sun crosses the celestial equator – the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator – from south to north.

So, in Western Christianity, Easter will always fall between March 22 and April 25.

What’s that got to do with chocolate eggs?

The eggs are a symbol of new life, used as a symbol of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday. They can also be seen to represent Spring and celebrate rebirth and reinvigoration after the harshness of winter.

This is why we see lots of chicks, lambs and other cute animals - it reminds us of the continuation of life.

And commercially it’s a massive deal - retailers and manufacturers love to get in on the holiday and persuade us to part with our cash by buying Easter eggs, cards and anything depicting bunnies.