When is Easter 2020, why does the date change and when are the schools off in Yorkshire?

Whatever you have planned this Easter, you'll need to know when it is first.
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Whether you have big plans this year or you're just curious about why the date changes, here's everything you need to know about when Easter falls.

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When are the school holidays in 2020? Yorkshire term dates for spring, summer an...

When is Easter 2020?

If you love your Easter activities, you'll want to take a note for your diary of when this year's holidays are. Picture: ShutterstockIf you love your Easter activities, you'll want to take a note for your diary of when this year's holidays are. Picture: Shutterstock
If you love your Easter activities, you'll want to take a note for your diary of when this year's holidays are. Picture: Shutterstock

Unlike Halloween, New Year or Christmas, Easter doesn’t have a set date on which it falls every year.

It can fall any time between 22 March and 22 April.

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In 2020, Easter Sunday will be on 12 April, which will make Good Friday 10 April and the Easter Monday bank holiday 13 April.

When are the schools off this Easter?

Even today, Easter Sunday is still determined by the cycles of the moon. Picture: ShutterstockEven today, Easter Sunday is still determined by the cycles of the moon. Picture: Shutterstock
Even today, Easter Sunday is still determined by the cycles of the moon. Picture: Shutterstock

The Spring holidays vary depending on where you are in the UK.

For most of Yorkshire, the schools will close on Friday 3 April 2020 and open again on Monday 20 April 2020.

However, there are two exceptions.

In North Lincolnshire, the schools start back one day later - on Tuesday 21 April 2020.

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Sheffield has entirely different dates, with the term finishing on Friday 27 March 2020 and beginning again on Tuesday 14 April 2020.

For more information on the school term dates, visit your local council website.

Why does the date of Easter change?

Easter Sunday is decided based on a complicated set of calculations regarding observations of the moon.

The exact date on which Easter should be celebrated is something churches have debated for centuries, with various methods of calculation used by different sects.

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To this day, churches in the east date Easter differently than those in the west, although sometimes the dates will coincide. In 2020, eastern churches will celebrate Easter on Sunday 19 April.

2025 will be the next year in which both hemispheres celebrate Easter at the same time.

How is the date chosen?

The decision on when Easter should fall each year was made in 325 AD by the first major church council, the Council of Nicaea.

The Bible dates Easter to around the time of the Jewish festival of Passover, which usually begins on the night of the first full moon after the Spring Equinox (one of the two moments in the year at which time the sun is directly above the equator).

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However, during “leap months” – the extra month added during leap years according to the Jewish calendar to make up for the fact that the solar year is actually slightly longer than 12 months – Passover begins on the second full moon after the equinox rather than the first.

While 2020 is a leap year according to the Gregorian calendar, it's not a leap year according to the Jewish calendar, so Passover will begin on the first full moon – Wednesday 8 April.

Easter takes place around the time The Bible records it as having occurred, so it's celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the Spring Equinox.

However, things become a little more complicated once you take into consideration the fact that moon observations vary depending on which time zone they are conducted from. In an attempt to standardise things, churches in the west use the ecclesiastical full moon instead.

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The ecclesiastical calendar breaks 19 normal calendar years down into 235 months made up of 30 or 29 days. It places the full moon at the 14th day of each month and terms the first full moon after the Equinox the “paschal full moon.”

Easter is the first Sunday to fall after this full moon, meaning that if the paschal full moon falls on a Sunday, Easter will be the following week.

Churches in the east celebrate Easter on a different date because they use the Julian calendar which is 13 days behind the one used in the west.