Why does Holy Week change each year?

Every year, Holy Week, which begins with Ramos Sunday and concludes with Resurrection Sunday, is celebrated on a different date. This is due to a historical reason. Here we explain it to you.

For Catholics, Holy Week is the most important celebration of the liturgical calendar, because the resurrection of Jesus is remembered. In fact, during the first three centuries of faith it was the only party that was celebrated.

The origin of the date is because the death of Christ occurred near Jewish Easter. The Gospels refer to this celebration in the biblical passage of the Last Supper, when Jesus met with his disciples to celebrate the party in which the Jews remembered his departure from Egypt.

The Jews, according to their norms, must renew this celebration every year on the 15th of the month of Nisan, which begins with the first new spring moon: that is, the first spring plenilunio, regardless of the day of the week that touches.

Holy Week and the Full Moon

With the passage of time, and although some regions in the world resisted, the Church began to unify the Easter date. From the I Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325, Holy Week is celebrated on the first Sunday of the Full Moon after the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere (around March 21).

At first it was taken into account that it did not coincide with the celebration of Jewish Easter, but over time this custom was lost, at least in the West.

Most of the time Holy Week falls during the first or second week of April.