This year we’ve had a double bonus Easter Sunday and moving to British summer time (BST). On top of all this we have a spring tide today which brings us back to the influence of the moon on our lives. The date of Easter is irrevocably linked to the moon, although the exact calculation of the date of Easter is really quite complicated and has been the basis much debate in the christian world – the Synod of Whitby being perhaps the most famous. Of course we should also remember that the Easter festival is also linked to the Jewish festival of the Passover. Now I don’t know enough about this to say whether the holy days are still connected. But if they are then the moon is again intimately involved in our religious practices.

Of course the moon is not the only extraterrestrial clock. We also recently went through the spring equinox which is governed by our orbit around the sun. Indeed the conflict between the lunar and solar clocks means that we have to add a second here and there to our measurement of time to try and keep the two in sync. So perhaps on Easter day it is worth remembering that time is not set by ourselves but by forces much larger and complex than most of us can really comprehend. If the universe didn’t exist would time? Perhaps we don’t have all the answers after all.

Simon Marchini
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk