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The Calculation of Easter

Julian Calendar
In 325, at the Council of Nicæa the date of Easter was fixed by declaring that Easter should be the first Sunday after the first full
moon occuring on or after the vernal equinox. This declaration was intended to be the end of a long dispute between eastern and
western Christian communities.

Fixing the date of Easter exactly was almost impossible at that time, the vernal equinox and the full moons having had to be
determined in advance. Therefore, Easter was computed using a cyclic calculation which made it necessary to fix the vernal
equinox and to create a lunar calendar for predicting full moons.

The Council of Nicæa gave the task of calculating the date of Easter to the Church of Alexandria, which was to communicate the
result to the pope for further distribution to the Christian communities. The computation described in this article is the one used
by the Roman church since its introduction in the 6th century by Dionysius Exiguus. There are some slight differences between
these rules and the original Alexandrian calculation, which have no effect on the date of Easter.

The Roman Empire, the western part of which eventually broke down under the pressure of "Barbarian" tribes in 476, covered a
vast territory, which led to different dates of Easter celebrated by various communities. In the province of Asia, which was the
north western part of what is now Turkey, Easter was celebrated on the Jewish 14 Nisan, regardless of the day of week. Many of
that communities did so even after the Council of Nicæa. But, by the end of the 4th century, 14 Nisan was observed by some
sectarians only.

The Churches of Alexandria and Rome had different points of view concerning the determination of Easter. In the 4th century,
Easter was celebrated on different days several times. The Alexandrian Easter could fall on any day between 22 March and
25 April, while in Rome Easter was to fall between 25 March and 21 April. The Roman Church extended these so called Easter
limits in 343, but the last differences were removed only in the beginning 6th century with the Easter tables of Dionysius
Exiguus.

In Ireland, together with the Christian belief an 84 year cycle was introduced, which was later brought to Gaul and the Franks. In
729, this so called Irish-Gaulish Easter dispute was settled with the 532 year paschal cycle being introduced in Britain. In the
Frankish empire the cycle of Victorius was adopted during the 5th century. The dates of Easter of the Victorian cycle sometimes
differed from those of the Dionysian cycle. Nevertheless, both cycles consisted of 532 years. Under the rule of Charles the Great,
in the end of the 8th century, the Dionysian cycle was introduced in the Frankish empire.

Considering the Julian calendar as being constantly aligned with the astronomical events, fixing the vernal equinox presented no
problems. In the year 325, the astronomical vernal equinox occured around 21 March, to which it had already moved from
24 March since the introduction of the Julian calendar under Caesar. This led to 21 March being considered as the vernal equinox
for computing Easter. Therefore, the earliest date of Easter became 22 March.

The Lunar Calendar

The calculation of the moon's phases was based on the so called Metonic cycle. This cycle is named after the Greek astronomer
and mathematician Meton who lived in Athens in the 5th century BCE. Nevertheless, Babylonian astronomers had discovered
earlier already that 235 (syndodic) lunar months have about the same length as 19 (tropical) years. Therefore it was concluded
that the new moons must fall on the same dates every 19 years. To designate the years within this 19-year-cycle the so-called
Golden Number was calculated. That is the remainder of the division of the number of the year by 19 increased by 1. For
example, the year 1492 bore the Golden Number 11. The new moons of all years with the same Golden Number should fall on
the same dates.

In 322 CE an astronomical new moon ocurred in the evening of 24 December. The Golden Number of that year(1) was 19. With
the Christian ecclesiastical year beginning on Christmas Day (25 December), the start of each 19 year cycle was put on
24 December of years with the Golden Number 19.

Beginning with 24 December of a year with the Golden Number 19, cyclic lunar months of 30 and 29 days were counted, each
30-day-month being followed by a month of 29 days. 24 December was the first day of a 30-day-month. The last day of this
month was 22 January, and on 23 January a month of 29 days began. A true lunar month being bit longer than 29,5 days, seven
leap months of 30 days each were inserted in every 19 year cycle. The leap days of the solar leap years were inserted without
counting them in the lunar calendar. In the last year of the 19 year cycle one day was ommitted to let the new cycle begin on
24 December. This was called saltus lunae. (2)

In this calendar, the mean length of a month was 29.53085 days. The true length of a lunar month, i. e. the time between two
consecutive new moons, is 29.53059 days. The difference between the cyclic calendar and the true phases of the moon amounted
to a whole day in about 310 years.(3)

Using the lunar calendar described above the new moons were determined. The following table shows the cyclic new moons of a
19 year Metonic cycle. Behind the names of the months, the days on which new moons occur in each of the 19 years, are given.
The new moons of the seven leap months are given in bold letters. 24 December of year 19 was the cyclic new moon with which
each 19-year-cycle began.

Golden Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Month

January 23 12 1 20 9 28 17 6 25 14 3 22 11 30 19 8 27 16 5
31

February 21 10 - 18 7 26 15 4 23 12 2 20 9 28 17 6 25 14 3

March 23 12 1 20 9 28 17 6 25 14 3 22 11 30 19 8 27 16 5
31

April 21 10 29 18 7 26 15 5 23 12 2 20 9 28 17 6 25 14 4

May 21 10 29 18 7 26 15 4 23 12 1 20 9 28 17 6 25 14 3
31

June 19 8 27 16 5 24 13 3 21 10 29 18 7 26 15 4 23 12 2

July 19 8 27 16 5 24 13 2 21 10 29 18 7 26 15 4 23 12 1
31

August 17 6 25 14 3 22 11 1 19 8 27 16 5 24 13 2 21 10 29
30

September 16 5 24 13 2 21 10 29 18 7 26 15 4 23 12 1 20 9 28

October 15 4 23 12 2 20 9 28 17 6 25 14 3 22 11 1 19 8 27
31 30

November 14 3 22 11 30 19 8 27 16 5 24 13 2 21 10 29 18 7 25

December 13 2 21 10 29 18 7 26 15 4 23 12 2 20 9 28 17 6 24
31

The number of the day within the current lunar month indicated the moon's phase, the day of the new moon being counted as the
first day of the month. The cyclic full moon was considered to occur on day 14 of the month. For example, the table above shows
that in a year bearing the Golden Number 8 a new moon occurs on 4 February. The following (cyclic) full moon therefore takes
place on 17 February. The first full moon occuring on or after 21 March was called Easter limit (terminus paschalis). For
instance, in years with the Golden Number 7 the Easter limit was 30 March.

With the Easter limit determined, one had to find the Sunday following that day. This was done with the Dominical Letters.
Every day of the year was marked with a letter, beginning with an A on 1 January. 2 January was given the letter B and so on
until 7 January, which was marked with a G. On the next day, 8 January, the sequence of the letters was restarted, and this day got
the letter A. This was done throughout the whole year, leaving the leap day aside. To find all Sundays of a year, it was only
necessary to write down the letter of the first Sunday in that year. In 1307, 1 January was a Sunday, so in the tables this year was
marked with the Dominical Letter A. Any day marked A was a Sunday in that year, too.

In leap years the insertion of a leap day resulted in a shift of the days of week by one day. Such years bore two Dominical Letters,
the first of which represented the Sundays in January and February. The second Dominical Letter stood for the Sundays in the
months from March to December. The year 1320, for example, had the Dominical Letters FE. The first Sunday of that year was
therefore 6 January. All days of January and February that year, which were marked with the letter F, were Sundays, while from
March until December all Sundays had an E written beside them.

To find Easter Sunday, the only thing to do was to go forward until the next day bearing the Dominical Letter of the year. In case
of a leap year the second of the two letters was to be used.

As an illustration, Easter Sunday of 1311 is to be found. First, the Golden Number is computed with (1311 mod 19) + 1 = 1. The
Dominical Letter of 1311 is C, and the first full moon on or after 21 March occurred on 5 April, which is the full moon following
the new moon on 23 March. 5 April has the letter D, and the next day marked C is 11 April, which is Easter Sunday.

Epacts
For reasons of convenience epacts were calculated. The epact was the moon's phase on 22 March. With a lunar year of 354 days
being 11 days shorter than a Julian year of 365 days, the epact of one year was 11 units larger than the epact of the preceeding
year. In the first year of the Metonic cycle the epacts was 0, while in the second its value was 11. The third year had the epact 22
and the fourth an epact of 3, the increase of the epacts being done modulo 30, as a lunar month had not more than 30 days. The
epact of the last year of the lunar cycle was 18. The ommission of one day in the lunar calendar that year made the epact "jump"
by 12 units, which explains the Latin "saltus lunae".(4)

With the epacts the determination of the Easter limit was done easily by going 14 days forward from 22 March and going back
from there as many days as the value of the epact. If the resulting date lay before 22 March, one had to go forward another 30
days to find the Easter limit. It is obvious, that a certain Golden Number leads to a certain Easter limit. To find the following
Sunday, the letter of the Easter limit could have been added. The result was a table like this one:- (M = March, A = April)

Golden Easter- Dom.

Number Epact limit letter
1 0 5A D
2 11 25 M G
3 22 13 A E
4 3 2A A
5 14 22 M D
6 25 10 A B
7 6 30 M E
8 17 18 A C
9 28 7A F
10 9 27 M B
11 20 15 A G
12 1 4A C
13 12 24 M F
14 23 12 A D
15 4 1A G
16 15 21 M C
17 26 9A A
18 7 29 M D
19 18 17 A B

The foregoing rules imply that the date of Easter of a year is solely determined by the Golden Number and the Dominical
Letter(s) of that year. As mentioned above, in leap years the second of the two Dominical Letters is to be used. In the following
table the date of Easter could easily be found.

Golden Dominical Letter

 Number A B C D E F G
1 9A 10 A 11 A 12 A 6A 7A 8A
2 26 M 27 M 28 M 29 M 30 M 31 M 1A
3 16 A 17 A 18 A 19 A 20 A 14 A 15 A
4 9A 3A 4A 5A 6A 7A 8A
5 26 M 27 M 28 M 29 M 23 M 24 M 25 M
6 16 A 17 A 11 A 12 A 13 A 14 A 15 A
7 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A 31 M 1A
8 23 A 24 A 25 A 19 A 20 A 21 A 22 A
9 9A 10 A 11 A 12 A 13 A 14 A 8A
10 2A 3A 28 M 29 M 30 M 31 M 1A
11 16 A 17 A 18 A 19 A 20 A 21 A 22 A
12 9A 10 A 11 A 5A 6A 7A 8A
13 26 M 27 M 28 M 29 M 30 M 31 M 25 M
14 16 A 17 A 18 A 19 A 13 A 14 A 15 A
15 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A 7A 8A
16 26 M 27 M 28 M 22 M 23 M 24 M 25 M
17 16 A 10 A 11 A 12 A 13 A 14 A 15 A
18 2A 3A 4A 5A 30 M 31 M 1A
19 23 A 24 A 18 A 19 A 20 A 21 A 22 A

The Easter limits repeated after 19 years, while the days of the week fell on the same dates after 28 years in the Julian calendar.
Therefore, the sequence of the dates of Easter repeated after 19 · 28 = 532 years. This cycle was called the Dionysian (after
Dionysius Exiguus) or Victorian (after Victorius) cycle. The earliest possible date for Easter sunday is 22 March, the latest
25 April.

The Metonic cycle approximated the true phases of the moon only roughly. Because of the error increasing by one day every 310
years the true new moons soon occured earlier than the cyclic new moons, the difference amounting to almost 4 days in the 16th
century. Therefore the Gregorian calendar reform included a new method of computing the date of Easter.

Gregorian Calendar
The leading architects of the Gregorian calendar are (Luigi Lilio or Giglio Ghiraldi) and Christoph Clavius (Christoph Klau). The
lunar cycle used in the improved Easter calculation has 19 years as in the old calendar, but corrections are made in certain years.

The cyclic calculation of the moon is mainly attributed to Lilius. As in the Julian calendar there are lunar months with
alternationg lengths of 30 days and 29 days. To determine the cyclic new moons the so-called Eternal Gregorian Calendar was
designed, of which a description now follows. In that calendar, an epact (of the new style) is assigned to every day of the year
with the exception of 29 February. 1 January has the epact 0 (Lilius wrote * instead of 0), a 30 day month beginning with that
date. The days are counted backwards from 29 to 1. Thus, 2 Jan is marked with 29, 3 Jan with 28 etc. The last day of this lunar
month is 30 January which receives the epact 1. 31 January is the start of a lunar month of 29 days. Because these months are one
day shorter, the epacts 24 and 25 are put on the same date. All days are given an epact in the same manner (i. e. alternating
months of 30 and 29 days). The result is the Eternal Gregorian Calendar as shown in the following table. (The marked numbers
will be explained later.)

Day Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Day
1 0 29 0 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 1
2 29 28 29 28 27 26 25 25 23 22 21 20 19 2
 3 28 27 28 27 26 25 24 24 22 21 20 19 18 3
4 27 26 25 27 26 25 25 23 23 21 20 19 18 17 4
5 26 25 24 26 25 24 24 22 22 20 19 18 17 16 5
6 25 23 25 23 23 21 21 19 18 17 16 15 6
7 24 22 24 22 22 20 20 18 17 16 15 14 7
8 23 21 23 21 21 19 19 17 16 15 14 13 8
9 22 20 22 20 20 18 18 16 15 14 13 12 9
10 21 19 21 19 19 17 17 15 14 13 12 11 10
11 20 18 20 18 18 16 16 14 13 12 11 10 11
12 19 17 19 17 17 15 15 13 12 11 10 9 12
13 18 16 18 16 16 14 14 12 11 10 9 8 13
14 17 15 17 15 15 13 13 11 10 9 8 7 14
15 16 14 16 14 14 12 12 10 9 8 7 6 15
16 15 13 15 13 13 11 11 9 8 7 6 5 16
17 14 12 14 12 12 10 10 8 7 6 5 4 17
18 13 11 13 11 11 9 9 7 6 5 4 3 18
19 12 10 12 10 10 8 8 6 5 4 3 2 19
20 11 9 11 9 9 7 7 5 4 3 2 1 20
21 10 8 10 8 8 6 6 4 3 2 1 0 21
22 9 7 9 7 7 5 5 3 2 1 0 29 22
23 8 6 8 6 6 4 4 2 1 0 29 28 23
24 7 5 7 5 5 3 3 1 0 29 28 27 24
25 6 4 6 4 4 2 2 0 29 28 27 26 25
26 5 3 5 3 3 1 1 29 28 27 26 25 25 26
27 4 2 4 2 2 0 0 28 27 26 25 24 24 27
28 3 1 3 1 1 29 29 27 26 25 25 23 23 28
29 2 - 2 0 0 28 28 26 25 24 24 22 22 29
30 1 - 1 29 29 27 27 25 23 23 21 21 30
31 0 - 0 - 28 - 26 25 24 - 22 - 20 31

To determine the cyclic new moons of a year the epact of that year is used. This (yearly) epact must be distinguished from the
(daily) epacts described above and contained in the Eternal Gregorian Calendar. The (yearly) epacts are following a 19-year-
cycle like the old style epacts. At the time of the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar years with the Golden Number 1 bore
the epact 1. The epact of a year increased by 11 compared to the preceeding year, the increase done modulo 30. The epacts of one
cycle of 19 years constitute the epact cycle. The cycle valid at the introduction of the new calendar can be seen in the following
table.

Golden
Epact
Number
1 1
2 12
3 23
4 4
5 15
 6 26
7 7
8 18
9 29
10 10
11 21
12 2
13 13
14 24
15 5
16 16
17 27
18 8
19 19

Combining epact cycle and Eternal Gregorian Calender the cyclic new moons of any year can be found quite easily by
computing the Golden Number and finding the corresponding epact of the year. On any day marked with that epact in the Eternal
Gregorian Calendar there is a cyclic new moon. The following cyclic full moon can be found by going forward 13 days.

So far the method in principal is the same as in the old calendar. To correct the error of the Julian calculation in the lengths of
month and year further adaptions became necessary. Two points had to be taken into account. These were

1. the shift of the new moon in the century years that are common years to approximate the length of the solar year
and
2. the error of the Metonic cycle compared with the lunar phases of one day in about 310 years.

These shifts are dealt with by adjusting the yearly epacts in certain years.

1. The omission of the leap day in century years not divisible by 400 is counterbalanced by decreasing the epacts by
1. That was called Solar Equation at the time of the introduction of this new calculation.
2. The error of the Metonic cycle is corrected by increasing the epacts seven times in a 2500-year cycle. This is done
in 8 out of the 25 century years of the cycle spaced 300 years each except of the last increase after 400 years.
Years affected by this so-called Lunar Equation are 1800, 2100, 2400, 2700, 3000, 3300, 3600, 3900, and 4300 (if
there won't be any changes in the current calendar).

Caused by the different intervals of Sun Equation and Moon Equation in century years one of the Equations can occur alone or
both can coincide, neutralising each other. In the latter case the epacts do not change. The following table shows the effects of the
Sun and Moon Equations on the yearly epact of years with the Golden Number 1.

Sun Lunar Epact Epact

Period
Equation Equation Change (GN=1)

until 1599 ... ... ... 1

1600-1699 0 0 0 1
1700-1799 -1 0 -1 0
1800-1899 -1 1 0 0
1900-1999 -1 0 -1 29
2000-2099 0 0 0 29
2100-2199 -1 1 0 29
2200-2299 -1 0 -1 28
 2300-2399 -1 0 -1 27
2400-2499 0 1 1 28

The yearly epacts resulting from these rules are compiled in the next table. Shown are the epacts depending on the Golden
Number and the period in which a year occurs.

E p a c t s
1500 1700 1900 2200 2300
Golden
to to to to to
Number
1699 1899 2199 2299 2399

1 1 0 29 28 27
2 12 11 10 9 8
3 23 22 21 20 19
4 4 3 2 1 0
5 15 14 13 12 11
6 26 25 24 23 22
7 7 6 5 4 3
8 18 17 16 15 14
9 29 28 27 26 25
10 10 9 8 7 6
11 21 20 19 18 17
12 2 1 0 29 28
13 13 12 11 10 9
14 24 23 22 21 20
15 5 4 3 2 1
16 16 15 14 13 12
17 27 26 25 24 23
18 8 7 6 5 4
19 19 18 17 16 15

The reform was to leave as much as possible unchanged compared to the Julian calendar. The shift of the epacts by the Sun and
Moon Equations brought along a problem which had to be tackled with an exception. The date of Easter were to fall on dates
between 22 March and 25 April, inclusively. These limits the reform intended to preserve. Another property of the Julian moon
calculation which should remain untouched was that in every year of the 19-year cycle the cyclic new and full moons occured on
different dates.

The Easter limits Lilius preserved by putting the epacts 24 and 25 on one day in the short lunar months. With the 25 on the day
following the day with the daily epact 24 the Easter full moon would occur on 19 April. The resulting Easter Sunday would be
26 April which is outside the Easter limits.

The dates of the cyclic new moons presented a problem more intricate. The effect of the Sun and Moon Equations on the epacts
makes possible the occurrence of both epacts (24 and 25) in one epact cycle. With these epacts put on the same dates in the
Eternal Gregorian Calendar the same cyclic new moons would occur in two years of the 19-year cycle. This problem was solved
by moving the daily epact 25 from the day with the epact 24 to the one with 26, i. e. 25 and 26 are put on one day instead of 24
and 25 whenever 24 and 25 occur in one epact cycle. This is marked in the table showing the Eternal Gregorian Calendar.

The error of the new moon calculation of the Gregorian calendar amounts to one day in about 70,000 years only. Of course, this
has no practical meaning, as the error of the solar calendar itself as well as secular changes in the lengths of year and month will
make necessary a correction until then already.
Different Easter Dates
In 1700, Protestant countries of the Holy Roman Empire adopted the civil part of the Gregorian calendar, but did not compute
Easter according to the Catholic algorithm. They used astronomical tables instead, which made Protestant and Catholic Easter
fall on different days in 1724 and 1744. Finally, in 1776, the cyclic calculation was agreed upon between Protestants and
Catholics in Germany, and the Gregorian calendar was introduced as "Common Imperial Calendar" ("Allgemeiner
Reichskalender").

In Sweden, by ommitting the leap day in 1700, the calendar was one day ahead of the Julian calendar. The dates of Easter in
Sweden were one unit higher than the Julian dates. In the years 1705, 1709, and 1711 Easter was celebrated a week earlier, the
dates of Easter were six units less than those of the Julian calendar. In 1712, the Julian calendar was re-adopted by inserting
30 February, and the dates of Easter were those of the Julian calendar. In 1740 things became weird: Despite using the Julian
calendar, Easter was celebrated together with the other Protestants. The dates of Easter in Sweden were out of the Easter limits
(22 March until 25 April) sometimes. In 1742, for instance, the Swedish date of Easter was 14 March, which corresponded to the
Gregorian 25 March.

The Swedish dates of Easter in the years 1700 until 1752 are given in the following table. The column "(Swed.)" showes the
dates in the calendar valid in Sweden at the time, while the column "(Greg.)" shows the Gregorian date of the day Easter was
celebrated in Sweden.
 Year Easter Sunday in Sweden
(Swed.) (Greg.)

1700 1A 11 A
1701 21 A 1 Mai
1702 6A 16 A
1703 29 M 8A
1704 17 A 27 A
1705 2A 12 A
1706 25 M 4A
1707 14 A 24 A
1708 5A 15 A
1709 18 A 28 A
1710 10 A 20 A
1711 26 M 5A
1712...1739 Julian Easter Dates
1740 6A 17 A
1741 22 M 2A
1742 14 M 25 M
1743 3A 14 A
1744 18 M 29 M
1745 7A 18 A
1746 30 M 10 A
1747 22 M 2A
1748 3A 14 A
1749 26 M 6A
1750 18 M 29 M
1751 31 M 11 A
1752 22 M 2A

The Protestants in Germany abolished their "astronomical" calculation of Easter in 1776, but Sweden continued to compute the
date of Easter in that way until as late as 1844. In 1802, 1805, and 1818, in Sweden Easter was celebrated a week later.

Finland was a part of Sweden until 1809, when it fell to Russia. Until that year, the date of Easter in Finland was that of Sweden.
When Finland was seized from Sweden by Russia, the Gregorian calendar was not abolished. Except of the years 1825, 1829,
and 1845, when in Finland Easter Sunday was observed a week later, Gregorian Easter was celebrated.

Easter Formulas
The rules for determining Easter are quite intricate, and many mathematicians tried to find easy-to-use formulas for this problem
over the centuries. Widely known are Carl Fiedrich Gauß's formulas for both the Julian and the Gregorian calendars. To calculate
the Gregorian date of Easter it is necessary to use auxiliary values, and two exceptions must be observed.

Gauß's formulas for the calculation of the date of Easter in the year Y of the Julian calendar are given here.

a = Y mod 19
b = Y mod 4
c = Y mod 7
d = (19 · a + 15) mod 30
e = (2 · b + 4 · c + 6 · d + 6) mod 7

The date of Easter is (22 + d + e) March or (d + e - 9) April.

To find the Gregorian date of Easter in year Y the formulas are similar, but need a table with auxiliary values, and two exceptions
become necessary.

a = Y mod 19
b = Y mod 4
c = Y mod 7
d = (19 · a + M) mod 30
e = (2 · b + 4 · c + 6 · d + N) mod 7

The values of M and N are to be found in the following table.

Period M N
1583-1599 22 2
1600-1699 22 2
1700-1799 23 3
1800-1899 23 4
1900-1999 24 5
2000-2099 24 5
2100-2199 24 6
2200-2299 25 0
2300-2399 26 1
2400-2499 25 1

Comparing the table of new style epacts and this table it can be seen, that M changes according to the epacts. N is increased in all
century years not divisible by 400. M is changed modulo 30, N modulo 7.

The two exceptions to be observed are the following.

1. If the result is 26 April, 19 April is the Easter Sunday instead.

2. If a > 10 and d = 28 and the result is 25 April, Easter Sunday is 18 April.

Instances of the first exception are the years 1609, 1981, 2076, and 2133. The second exception occured in 1954 and will apply
again in 2049 and 2106.

Another algorithm to compute the Gregorian date of Easter was given by Oudin. There are no auxiliary values. As in Gauß's
formulas, Y is the year of which Easter Sunday is to be determined.

C = int(Y / 100)
N = Y - 19 · int(Y / 19)
K = int((C - 17) / 25)
I1 = C - int(C / 4) - int((C - K) / 3) + 19 · N + 15

I2 = I1 - 30 · int(I1 / 30)

I3 = I2 - int(I2 / 28) · (1 - int(I2 / 28) · int(29 / (I2 + 1)) · int((21 - N) / 11))

A1 = Y + int(Y / 4) + I3 + 2 - C + int(C/4)

A2 = A1 - 7 · int(A1 / 7)

L = I3 - A2
M = 3 + int((L + 40) / 44)
D = L + 28 - 31 · int(M / 4)

M is the number of the month, D the day of the date of Easter.

Many Christian holidays depend on the date of Easter. Shrove tuesday is celebrated 47 days before Easter, Ash Wednesday 46
days before, while Ascension Day is 39 days after Easter Sunday. Whitmundy is 50 days after, Corpus Christi 60 days after
Easter Sunday, except in the US, where it is observed 3 days later.

Easter Calculator
The Easter Calculator can be used to compute the date of Easter in any Julian or Gregorian year using Gauß's formulas for the
Julian calendar and Oudin's algorithm for the Gregorian calendar. Note, that the year must be entered with all digits and cannot
be abbreviated (as for instance 72 for 1972). Until the 8th century, many different dates of Easter were celebrated by several
Christian churches. The Calculator gives the Dionysian date only.

Remarks

1
In case of a year with another beginning than 1 January, this will be mentioned explicitly.
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2
The algorithm described is the one used in the Occident. Bede ommitted the day in the last year of the lunar cycle by shortening the lunar month
beginning on 27 October by a day.
The Alexandrians took this day from the lunar month beginning on 1 July, shortening this month to 29 days. With this, the last column in the table
given later looks a bit different: July - 1,30; August - 28; September - 27; October - 26; November - 25.
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3
A cycle of 19 years can contain 4 or 5 leap years. To compute the mean length of a cyclic lunar month one has to use a cycle of 4 · 19 = 76 years,
which consists of 4 · 114 months with 30 days each, 4 · 114 months with 29 days each, 4 · 7 leap months with 30 days each, and the leap days of the
19 leap years within the cycle. Four days must be subtracted because of the saltus lunae (of which is carried out one in each of the four lunar cycles).
This results in the four lunar cycles having 4 · (114 · 30 + 114 · 29 + 7 · 30) + 19 - 4 = 27759 days and 4 · 235 = 940 lunar months. Thus, the mean
length of a lunar month is 27759 / 940 = 29,53085 days.
The error of a cyclic lunar month compared with a true one is about 22.5 seconds, which amounts to a whole day in about 3835 lunar months, or about
310 years.
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4
The rule for computing the epact is: Decrease the number of the year by 1, multiply by 11 and subtract 30 as often as possible. That means, the
multiplication is done modulo 30. This is the reason for the epact 0 of years with the Golden Number 1, in which a cyclic new moon occurs on
23 March, and 22 March is day 30 of the preceeding new moon.
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