We’re all used to Easter generally falling on the first or second Sunday in April, but this year it fell on the last Sunday of March. Next year it will fall on the third Sunday in April. The reason for the wide discrepancy can be attributed to the moon and the church.
Given that Easter is a celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Christian Church coincides the Easter holiday with the Jewish Passover holiday. Through mathematical calculations associated with the Jewish calendar, the vernal equinox, the full moon in March and the Gregorian calendar, the Church determines which Sunday Easter will fall on.
Regardless when Easter arrives, families in Lebanon began celebrating the event this year on the Saturday before the holiday because that’s when organizations such as The Oaks, King’s Chapel and ENTEK/Boys & Girls Club of the Greater Santiam held community-wide Easter egg hunts.
Julia Anderson, life enrichment assistant at The Oaks, said she has been attending the egg hunts at The Oaks since she was a little girl.
“I’ve been working here going on eight years, but I’ve been volunteering since I was, like, 10,” she said. “So I’ve been going to the Easter egg hunt for that long.”
They had enough residents to help fill the 2,000 eggs this year to get the task done in just a few hours this year, she said.
“It’s just one of our annual events that we absolutely love to do to get the community together.”
