Easter 2017: When will Good Friday and Easter Sunday be observed this year?

Every year, Christians around the world celebrate Easter to commemorate the events leading to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, the dates of the ancient Christian tradition varies every year, and the calculation for its schedule involves a synthesis of mathematics, theology, and astronomy.

The date for Easter Sunday usually falls on the first Sunday right after the first full moon following the first day of spring, and this year, it falls on April 16, according to Telegraph. Good Friday, which commemorates Christ's crucifixion, falls on April 14, while Easter Monday is on April 17.

Catholic bishops set out to standardize the holiday during the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. The bishops decided at that time that Easter should be celebrated on the first Sunday following a full moon at Passover, a Jewish festival commemorating the liberation of the Jews from slavery in Egypt.

After realizing that the full moon does not fall on the same days due to a difference in time zones, the bishops agreed that the celebration for Easter Day should be on the 14th day of the lunar month.

The Eastern Orthodox Church often celebrate the holiday on a different date because it uses the earlier Julian calendar to calculate Christian festivals such as Easter. However, the Orthodox Easter or Greek Easter falls on the same day as western Easter this year, which also happened in 2014, according to Birmingham Mail.

In England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, had suggested that Easter should fall on the same Sunday every year. He said that Anglican leaders would join discussions with other church leaders about a plan to set a fixed date for the Christian holiday, which he said would likely be on the second or third Sunday of April.

Many Christians in central and eastern European countries decorate eggs in beautiful patterns as part of the holiday celebrations.

Eggs symbolize new life, just as Jesus began a new life after his resurrection. The cracked eggs are said to represent an empty tomb. The eggs, which are saved and given to children as gifts, are sometimes colored red, in recognition of the blood of Christ when he was crucified.

The egg-giving tradition was brought to the U.S. in the 18th century by German immigrants in the Pennsylvania Dutch area. The President of the United States holds an Easter egg roll on the White House lawn on Easter Monday each year for young children.