I think it depends on the church. Catholics and Protestants generally celebrate it on the date I described, which last year happened to line up as the Sunday after Passover. But next year (2005), Easter is on 3/27, and Passover doesn’t begin until 4/23.

The Greek Orthodox Church, however, celebrates its Easter on 5/1/2005, which is indeed the Sunday after Passover, but I think even that may be coincidental. In 2003, Passover was 4/17, Catholic/Protestant Easter was 4/20, and Orthodox Easter was 4/27. It could be that Orthodox Easter is the Sunday after Passover ends, but I’m not sure.

A handy Easter calendar.

As for the Sun God / Sunday tradition, there are all kinds of Christian traditions like that which wrap themselves up in pagan history. According to pagans, the Sun God died on the solstice, and was raised from the dead three days later — usually around December 25th, a date which might ring a bell.

Similarly, it wasn’t until I understood the Christian and pagan underpinnings that I understood why Easter’s date was so weird, or why Easter is associated with bunnies and chicks. The pagans used to celebrate a spring fertility festival after the first full moon following the vernal (spring) equinox. So Easter is the Sunday after that.

If you’re a Jew or a Seventh-Day Adventist, true enough. But the Bible doesn’t actually say which day was the seventh, so the selection of Sabbath day is arbitrary.

No more so than the seven-day week, or the fact that no one is calling Wednesday the Sabbath (or worse, renaming it “Saturday” to make it so). The tradition of going to church on Sunday was to accomodate the Sun God; it was not based on any doctrinal disputes over which day of the week came first, seventh, etc.

No sales on Sunday, including beer, is still in effect. They carved out an exception a few years back for when Christmas eve falls on a Sunday, and New Years Eve, too.

The one saving grace is that CT is a tiny state, so you’re never too far from making a cross-border packy run, hopefully before the drinking begins.
(”Packy” being the local vernacular for liquor store. )

This leads us to my favorite name ever for a liquor store, “Scarfo’s Packy Run” in Enfield, CT.

Like NY, CT allows the sale of wine & liquor in liquor stores only, leaving just beer, malt beverages & wine coolers available in grocery stores.

If you’re a Jew or a Seventh-Day Adventist, true enough. But the Bible doesn’t actually say which day was the seventh, so the selection of Sabbath day is arbitrary.

As for “blue laws,” I think every state’s got ‘em in some form. In Ohio and Kentucky, you couldn’t buy liquor (even by the drink) on Sundays until 1 PM. Not coincidentally, this is about the time that the last church services let out. Interestingly, beer was exempted from this (probably because the Browns and Bengals games typically started at 1:00).

Such archaic laws need to go. I don’t see any secular reason why one day should be any different than any other for liquor purchase.

Your assertion would be correct… of course, being a 7th Day Adventist, I would probably be expected to say that.

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By the way, you guys down there have nothing about which to complain. In Connecticut, there is no booze sold on Sundays, nor can it be sold during the other six days after 8 pm (or 8:30, I can’t remember which).

a) I was out of beer

b) I was to sloshed to drive to the store to get more, and thus would be dry on Sunday night.

AFAIK, SC doesn’t sell booze in bottles on Sundays either. Not that it bothers me-I just buy it on Ft Jackson.

Single malt, please!