Our Astronomical Column

Abstract

THE DATE OF EASTER.—It seems a curious anachronism that our calendar in the twentieth century should still be largely influenced by the lunar chronology which passed out of direct use nearly two thousand years ago. That was the most obvious system to employ at the dawn of astronomy, the moon's rapid motion and the ease of locating its position in the heavens making it far superior to the sun as a time-measurer. But as time went on the inconvenience of having a variable number of months in the year, and of having events like the equinoxes and solstices occurring on variable dates, caused the system to be abandoned and a purely solar calendar substituted.