Friday (April 6) brought us the first full moon of the new spring season. The official moment that the moon turned full was 19:19 UT, reported Discovery News.

Traditionally, Easter falls on the Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon, the first full moon of spring. If the Paschal Moon occurs on a Sunday, Easter falls on the following Sunday. Based on these rules, the date of Easter can fall as early as March 22 and as late as April 25.

But there is also an ecclesiastical full moon, the date of which does not necessarily coincide with the astronomical full moon, hence causing confusion as to when Easter falls.

In the year 2038, the astronomical Easter should fall on March 28. In reality, however, Church rules mandate that the holiday will be observed on April 25.

Vatican authorities also considered changing Easter to a fixed date rather than a variable one. The second Sunday in April has been suggested as the most likely date.

(China.org.cn April 10, 2012)

上周五（4月6日）迎來了今春第一輪滿月。據(jù)探索頻道新聞網(wǎng)報(bào)道，官方的滿月時(shí)間是國際協(xié)調(diào)時(shí)當(dāng)日19時(shí)19分。

根據(jù)傳統(tǒng)，復(fù)活節(jié)在逾越節(jié)滿月、也就是每年春季第一輪滿月后的周日降臨。如果逾越節(jié)滿月正好是周日，那復(fù)活節(jié)便是下一個周日。基于這些規(guī)則，復(fù)活節(jié)的日期可能早至3月22日，也可能晚至4月25日。

但也有一種“教會滿月”的說法，而且“教會滿月”的日期不一定總是和“天文學(xué)滿月”一致，因此復(fù)活節(jié)何時(shí)降臨便會出現(xiàn)混亂。

比如2038年，天文學(xué)上的復(fù)活節(jié)應(yīng)該是3月28日，但在實(shí)際上，根據(jù)教會的規(guī)定，那一年的這個節(jié)日應(yīng)是4月25日。

梵蒂岡方面也曾考慮將復(fù)活節(jié)的日期固定下來。每年4月的第二個周日是被提議最合理的日期。