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INPRIMATU
Why have the carnivals been delayed this year?
  • This year we will celebrate carnivals later than usual. Thursday Gordo will be 28 February and Carnival Tuesday 5 March. Why so late?  
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Inauteriak, Lantz, 2016-02-09. Argazkia: Olaiz Agirrebeña - Dantzan CC-BY-S

The dates of the Carnival are fixed by Easter Sunday or Easter Sunday. Lent, a 40-day Christian fasting, starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday. Therefore, we have to count forty days ago to calculate Ash Wednesday, not counting Sundays. The first day after the carnivals are over is Ash Wednesday. So the day before, it will be Carnival Tuesday.

 

Carnavales, Lesaka, 26-02-2017. Photo: Maite Irizar - Dantzan CC-BY-S

 

But how can we know when Easter Sunday is? It is usually the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring. The first full moon of this year is March 21, so Easter Sunday should be March 24. This year's Easter is almost a month later, April 14 is Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday 21 is Easter Sunday.

Have you been confused with the dates of this year's Holy Week? The delay is explained. Although not usual, in some years the simple formula for calculating the Holy Week does not work. You have to take into account the full Church moon and not astronomy.

 

Carnavales, Amezketa, 10-02-2018: Eire Vila - Dance CC-BY-S

 

In the Gregorian calendar, Easter Sunday is celebrated the Sunday following the full Church moon. In this case, the full moon is not calculated based on astronomical phenomena, but is calculated taking into account the numerical tables invented by the church. Therefore, Easter Sunday will be the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, but it will not be before 22 March or after 25 April.

In the case of 2019, as the first full moon of spring applies on March 21, the next full moon (April 19) will be taken into account. In 1962 the same also happened, as the first full moon of spring occurred on 21 March, so the next full moon was expected (18 April) and on 22 April was held on Easter Sunday.

 

Carnavales, Amezketa, 10-02-2018: Eire Vila - Dance CC-BY-S

 

In the Gregorian calendar, Easter Sunday is celebrated the Sunday following the full Church moon. In this case, the full moon is not calculated based on astronomical phenomena, but is calculated taking into account the numerical tables invented by the church. Therefore, Easter Sunday will be the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, but it will not be before 22 March or after 25 April.

In the case of 2019, as the first full moon of spring applies on March 21, the next full moon (April 19) will be taken into account. In 1962 the same also happened, as the first full moon of spring occurred on 21 March, so the next full moon was expected (18 April) and on 22 April was held on Easter Sunday.

This news was posted by Dantzan.eus and we brought it to ARGIA thanks to the CC-by-sa license.