When my alarm went off this morning, I noticed the date: March 25. It made me think of something.

In the sixth century, when Dionysius Exiguus, the Scythian monk usually credited with formulating the liturgical calendar, calculated back in time to the birth of Christ, he calculated, using the year one as a basis, that the Last Supper/Passover, Passion and Death of Christ, and the Resurrection had occurred on March 24, March 25, and March 27, respectively, in the year 33 A.D. Thus, in the early church, March 27th was the fixed date for Resurrectio Domini.

It was a relatively unknown holy day until about 20-25 years ago (and generally still is, as far as I know), but I happened to come upon some info on it about three years ago, when I was researching the Holy Week Liturgies in Middle English lyrics. Eamon Duffy’s The Stripping of the Altars led me to this article:

Rose, Christine M. “March 27 as Easter and the Medieval Liturgical Calendar.” New York Folklore. 30:2 (1986): 112-117. Anyway, if you’re bored, and have a particular interest in this sort of thing, it’s worth a look.