Easter - Moveable feast

[Ken H]

I guess everyone knows that Easter falls at a different time each year.
So we hear talk of late and early easters, and how it mat affect retail.

Does Easter moving around affect rail. Does an early Easter affect ticket sales less than a late one when the weather may be better
Can Easter get in the way of timetable change dates at all.

And as Easter is a favourite time for big engineering possesions can an early Easter be difficult with worse weather.

Does Ramadan complicate things at all? I dont think it always falls around Easter.

 

[Bald Rick]

Probably the biggest effect is caused by the change of the financial year on April 1. Because about a quarter of Easters are before that, it means that some years have 2 Easters, and some have none. This makes year on year comparisons for some measures - revenue, delays, expenditure for example - a little tricky. If you have two Easter’s one year and none the next, it can seem like revenue has stalled in the two Easter year, and grows significantly the following year (revenue takes a big dip across Easter as commuting falls considerably).

A later Easter can help with some engineering works, in that for big projects (usually involving signalling commissioning) that cause changes to line speeds And therefore running times, a later Easter allows a shorter period of variation between the commissioning and the new timetable in mid May (soon to be June).

Ramadan moves progressively earlier through the Gregorian calendar - it was over midsummer a few years ago, and in 2030 there will be two, in January and December.

 

[zwk500]

Does Easter moving around affect rail. Does an early Easter affect ticket sales less than a late one when the weather may be better

It does affect rail a bit, not sure to what extent.

Can Easter get in the way of timetable change dates at all.

Not really, as the timetable change in May is far enough back, although it can increase the workload for planning departments as they have to process any short-notice changes for christmas and Easter at the same time that the May timetable is being fine-tuned and the offer for the December timetable is being made. What the shift to 3 changes will do I don't know

And as Easter is a favourite time for big engineering possesions can an early Easter be difficult with worse weather.

Given the British spring, it's not really any worse threat in March than in April.

Does Ramadan complicate things at all? I dont think it always falls around Easter.

Ramadan doesn't really come into it other than considering anybody who is fasting. Western Christianity* uses the date of the first full moon after the Spring Equinox to determine Easter, while Ramadan is a month of the Islamic calendar, which is 11 days shorter than the Gregorian (western) calendar and so Ramadan moves about a week and a half each year (i.e. it is 11 days earlier each year), on a cycle of about 30 years. So in theory Ramadan will only interact with Easter for about 4 years in every 33.

 

[The Planner]

Not really, as the timetable change in May is far enough back, although it can increase the workload for planning departments as they have to process any short-notice changes for christmas and Easter at the same time that the May timetable is being fine-tuned and the offer for the December timetable is being made. What the shift to 3 changes will do I don't know

Not a huge amount, as the proposed introduction for June 24 is about 2 weeks later than the May change.

 

[Spartacus]

In many ways Easter moving's far better than it being on a fixed date. It always being a Sunday and the bank holidays around it always being the same is a great help in many planning departments. If landing midweek, such as a Wednesday it'd be a right old pain.

 

[snowball]

In many ways Easter moving's far better than it being on a fixed date. It always being a Sunday and the bank holidays around it always being the same is a great help in many planning departments. If landing midweek, such as a Wednesday it'd be a right old pain.

Yes but at present Easter can fall on any date in the 5-week range between March 22 and April 25 inclusive. There have been many proposals to fix Easter. When people talk about fixing Easter they don't mean giving it a completely fixed calendar date like Christmas, which can fall on any day of the week.

What they mean is to keep Easter on a Sunday but reduce the five-week range to a single week. This would make Easter a bit like Remembrance Sunday, which is defined as the nearest Sunday to November 11.

 

[daveo]

In many ways Easter moving's far better than it being on a fixed date. It always being a Sunday and the bank holidays around it always being the same is a great help in many planning departments. If landing midweek, such as a Wednesday it'd be a right old pain.

Good luck persuading the Jews to fix Passover (Pesach) to which Easter is inextricably linked.

 

[jfollows]

Probably the biggest effect is caused by the change of the financial year on April 1. Because about a quarter of Easters are before that, it means that some years have 2 Easters, and some have none. This makes year on year comparisons for some measures - revenue, delays, expenditure for example - a little tricky. If you have two Easter’s one year and none the next, it can seem like revenue has stalled in the two Easter year, and grows significantly the following year (revenue takes a big dip across Easter as commuting falls considerably).

Your point is well made but, on a technicality, the financial year changes on April 6, doesn't it? That's the day - next Thursday - when I'll be submitting my tax return for the 2022-23 financial year!

 

[fwsmVor]

Good luck persuading the Jews to fix Passover (Pesach) to which Easter is inextricably linked.

And indeed the Christians! It was one of the first great religious disagreements in Britain, settled by the Synod of Whitby in 664, whether to keep celebrating Easter according to the Roman date or the Ionian date. Would this "fixed" Easter by state fiat expect British Catholics to celebrate it on a different date to Catholics everywhere else? Would ones living in NI observe the British date or the everywhere-else-including-Ireland date? Would the Anglicans in the commonwealth suddenly be expected to conform to British Easter? What about the Episcopalians in America?

 

[Cantab26]

Your point is well made but, on a technicality, the financial year changes on April 6, doesn't it? That's the day - next Thursday - when I'll be submitting my tax return for the 2022-23 financial year!

The new financial year starts on 1 April. The new tax year starts on 6 April (26 March OS).

 

[jfollows]

The new financial year starts on 1 April. The new tax year starts on 6 April (26 March OS).

Ah, thank you. I shall remember to differentiate now! So my tax return on Thursday will be for the tax year 2022-23.

 

[Magdalia]

Good luck persuading the Jews to fix Passover (Pesach) to which Easter is inextricably linked.

Both are linked to the phases of the moon, but Passover and Easter are not inextricably linked to each other. Orthodox Christian Easter is also linked to the phases of the moon, but not necessarily at the same time as Roman Christian Easter.

Your point is well made but, on a technicality, the financial year changes on April 6, doesn't it? That's the day - next Thursday - when I'll be submitting my tax return for the 2022-23 financial year!

The UK tax year ends on 5 April but that's not the same as the financial year, which, for many but not all companies, ends on 31 March.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Ramadan is lunar. Easter is moveable. Christmas is fixed. Confusing to some.

 

[Bald Rick]

Your point is well made but, on a technicality, the financial year changes on April 6, doesn't it? That's the day - next Thursday - when I'll be submitting my tax return for the 2022-23 financial year!

The financial year is whenever you want it to be. However U.K. Government, and therefore all public bodies (as far as I am aware) have a financial year running 1 April to 31 March. Many companies follow suit, but not all. Some companies have their financial year as per the Calendar year. Football clubs tend to have their financial year in line with the season (the FA does 1 August to 31 July).

The U.K. tax year is 6 April to 5 April, and the reason it is this date is actually quite interesting…

Why does the UK tax year start on 6 April each year?

When much of the world quite sensibly chooses New Year’s Day to also be the start of their tax year, amongst the major nations only the UK has a quirky start date to its personal tax year (and of course, has a different one for corporation tax!?).

www.taxadvisorypartnership.com

 

[317 forever]

In many ways Easter moving's far better than it being on a fixed date. It always being a Sunday and the bank holidays around it always being the same is a great help in many planning departments. If landing midweek, such as a Wednesday it'd be a right old pain.

I enjoy Easter being on varying weekends each year. Christmas & New Year are absolutely fixed to dates regardless of day of the week (although it can lead to rare Bank Holidays eg Christmas Tuesday in 2021 & 2022); some Bank Holidays are relatively fixed (ie 1st & last Monday in May and last Monday in August).

However, Easter is a Friday-Monday that changes every year.

Some years back I did hear a proposal to fix Easter Sunday to the Sunday after the first Saturday in April.

I have observed an anomaly when Easter Sunday is the same Sunday as when the clocks go forward - as happened most recently in 2016. Church goers will have celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ after 1 hour less following his crucifixion than usual. (Assuming for example that Church services are at 11am on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday, the gap between services would be 47 hours rather than 48 hours).

 

[Kite159]

I'm in the camp that the 4 day Easter weekend should be 'fixed' to be something like the 2nd Friday in April will be Good Friday.

 

[birchesgreen]

You can't really fix Easter to a specific date unless you do it for the whole world (well Christian world anyway).

 

[Gloster]

Although I am an agnostic I think that, if we are going to have Easter, the date should be the one chosen by the Christian ‘community’ (very much an in-word, but it will serve). If you are going to muck it around for the convenience of the non-Christian section of the population, it rather loses its significance: you might just as well call it the chocolate bunny and then feeling a bit icky festival.

 

[zwk500]

You can't really fix Easter to a specific date unless you do it for the whole world (well Christian world anyway).

Although I am an agnostic I think that, if we are going to have Easter, the date should be the one chosen by the Christian ‘community’ (very much an in-word, but it will serve). If you are going to muck it around for the convenience of the non-Christian section of the population, it rather loses its significance: you might just as well call it the chocolate bunny and then feeling a bit icky festival.

It would be possible to decouple the bank holidays from the religious festival of course. Sure the Tory press would be up in arms but the religious significance of a 4-day weekend is lost on the majority of the population so either spread the bank holidays out or fix them to the last Friday in March (or 1st in April) or whenever. Call it 'spring bank holiday' if you want. Other religions don't get their holy days off as national holidays, so it'd really just be honouring the obligations under the equality act .

 

[Ediswan]

You can't really fix Easter to a specific date unless you do it for the whole world (well Christian world anyway).

Orthodox and Catholic\Western Christianity currently co-exist with different dates for Easter. (Gregorian vs Julian calendars.)

 

[Snow1964]

Ah, thank you. I shall remember to differentiate now! So my tax return on Thursday will be for the tax year 2022-23.

Or you can wait few weeks, and the employers online PAYE returns will fill in many of the figures on the employment pages for you.

Going back to Easter, 2027 is the next year with earliest date of March 22nd. The Spring Equinox in 2027 is March 20th in 2027 (it varies within the 4 years of leap year cycle)

 

[Peterthegreat]

Until 1971 Whit Monday was also a moveable holiday (7 weeks after Easter) but was then moved to the last Monday in May (usually)

 

[Magdalia]

Until 1971 Whit Monday was also a moveable holiday (7 weeks after Easter) but was then moved to the last Monday in May (usually)

The move to last Monday in May started on a trial basis in 1965 and the move was made permanent from 1971 onwards.

 

[brad465]

Or you can wait few weeks, and the employers online PAYE returns will fill in many of the figures on the employment pages for you.

Going back to Easter, 2027 is the next year with earliest date of March 22nd. The Spring Equinox in 2027 is March 20th in 2027 (it varies within the 4 years of leap year cycle)

Easter 2027 is March 28th, which while early, is not the earliest date of March 22nd.

2008 was memorable for being the earliest in living memory for almost everyone at the time (March 23rd), which was so early that many schools, including my secondary school at the time, had the Easter Weekend completely separate from the Easter Holiday.

 

[Harvester]

21st March is the date used to calculate Easter, not the spring equinox which varies between 19th and 22nd March. Easter Day is the first Sunday following a full Moon occurring on or after 21st March. If a full Moon happens on Sunday 21st March, Easter would be the following Sunday (28th). Hence 22nd March is the earliest Easter date, which last happened in 1818, and will next occur in 2285.

 

[duncanp]

Easter 2027 is March 28th, which while early, is not the earliest date of March 22nd.

2008 was memorable for being the earliest in living memory for almost everyone at the time (March 23rd), which was so early that many schools, including my secondary school at the time, had the Easter Weekend completely separate from the Easter Holiday.

If Easter Sunday occurs on March 22nd - 24th, then it will be one week before the clocks go forward for the summer, which is very unusual.

The next time it will be on March 22nd is the year 2285, and the next time it is only April 25th is 2038.

Easter Sunday wsa on my birthday in 2011 (April 24th) and won't happen again for me unless I live to be 132, in 2095.

 

[jfollows]

Or you can wait few weeks, and the employers online PAYE returns will fill in many of the figures on the employment pages for you.

I'm sure, but the only information I need is on the month 12 payslip from - in my case - my SIPP pension, which I have already. Also, it's perfectly possible to revise the return over the next months until the January deadline.

 

[Enthusiast]

Easter Day should be fixed, perhaps the first Sunday in April. Job done. There is absolutely no reason why it should continue to be a "Moveable Feast."

 

[fwsmVor]

Easter Day should be fixed, perhaps the first Sunday in April. Job done. There is absolutely no reason why it should continue to be a "Moveable Feast."

You're going to go and tell the Pope, all the eastern patriarchs, the global anglicans and the northern Irish that in person, are you?

 

[OhNoAPacer]

I vaguely remember seeing somewhere that Parliament had passed a motion to fix the date of Easter but that the act would only come into effect when the various Christian denominations came to an agreement on what the date should be.