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[bardofely]

Having a very bad day today that started on waking with an awful stiff neck that has taken until around now to loosen up and stop hurting if I turn my head, however, I got all the work I was doing done, had a hot shower to spruce myself up a bit and hopefully help heal my neck muscles and thought I'd go into Icod to get a new Bono and food for me and the cats.

Now to my mind this is just a Thursday and I don't see it marked on my calendar as anything special. I know it's the last day of Pisces for people who are into astrology and in the pagan calendar it is fast approaching Vernal Equinox but for the rest of the world I had assumed it was just a normal day! Not so!

They only sell Bonos here from a new office at the station and stopped selling at the shops and having been caught with that I have learned the times, which include 3-5 on weekdays and closed all weekend! However, I get to the station at 4 and find the Bono office closed and no sign of explanation!

Well, I can still do my shopping I thought, so I head for the Hiperdino only to find that closed too as were other places apart from some bars!

So I walked home and had a totally wasted journey and am wondering what special day this and if tomorrow is another? Has Easter come early or something? If it is I am messed up for cheap bus rides unless I can find somewhere In Puerto that sells Bonos. For tea and breakfast we will have to make do with what is here, which is not a lot!

My neck's a lot better though!

PS Update: I just discovered searching online that this is Maundy Thursday ! Now how was I supposed to know that? Well that means I am stuck for any easy shopping and a Bono tomorrow I would imagine seeing as its Good Friday! I have never known what's "good" about it!
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[rob]

You live in Spain Bard. They always celebrate Semana Santa (Easter week) with particular emphasis on Thursday and Friday. They do not celebrate Easter Monday as we do.

How are you supposed to know that? By immersing yourself in the language and culture of your adopted country!
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[bardofely]

[rob]

It's the earliest Easter since 1913 if that makes you feel any better.
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[bardofely]

[MaryJ]

Apparently the early Easter has messed up the school holidays in the UK.

Something do do with it making the school term too short, so the kids have got Good Friday and Easter Monday off and are then having 2 weeks off in a fortnights time.

I can't remember this happening before.
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[bardofely]

[funky]

The simple definition of Easter is that it is the first Sunday after the Full Moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox. If the full moon falls on a Sunday then Easter is the next Sunday. You see? Simple!

Some more useless facts for you. Did you know that there was no fixed method of calculating the date for Easter until the 8th Century?

Just to really bore you, the following method is used in determining the date of Easter in Western Christian churches; the date used by the Eastern churches can be 1, 4 or 5 weeks later.

The Metonic cycle of 19 years is one in which the phases of the Moon repeat exactly. It is thus possible to have a 19 year cycle for the dates of Full or New Moon. In the Julian calendar this 19-year cycle can be fairly easily translated into a date for Easter via the calculation of two quantities called the Golden Number and the Dominical Letter. These can readily be found from appropriate tables and another table gives the date of Easter.

In the Gregorian calendar the calculation is complicated by the definition of which century years are leap years. These leap years mess up the simple Metonic cycle by altering the number of days in different periods of 19 years. The tabular method uses the Epact instead of the Golden Number.

The Epact is the age of the Moon, diminished by one day, on Jan 1 in the Gregorian ecclesiastical calendar! From the involved rules for constructing the lunar calendar a table may be drawn up to give the Epact, which can vary between 0 and 29.

The Dominical letter in the Gregorian calendar has a cycle of 28 years within each century but the century leap years again throw this into disorder. There is an overall cycle of 400 years over which they repeat.

An algorithm to find the date of Easter which is valid from 1900 to 2099 has been derived by mathematical geeks...

Calculate D="'225'" - 11(Y MOD 19).

If D is greater than 50 then subtract multiples of 30 until the resulting new value of D is
less than 51.

If D is greater than 48 subtract 1 from it.

Calculate E="'(Y" +' [Y/4] + D + 1) MOD 7. (NB Integer part of [Y/4])

Calculate Q="'D +'" 7 - E.

If Q is less than 32 then Easter is in March. If Q is greater than 31 then Q - 31 is its date in April.

For example, for 1998:
D = 225 - 11*(1998 MOD 19) = 225 - 11*3 = 192
D is greater than 50, therefore:
D = (192 - 5*30) = 42
E = (1998 + [1998/4] + 42 + 1) MOD 7="'2540'" MOD 7="'6'"
Q = 42 + 7 - 6="'43'"
Easter 1998="'43" -' 31="'12" April'

Still confused about dates Bard?
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[WantaVacation]

I'm lost.......where's the chocolate?

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[bardofely]

[rob]

Its quite smple..... at the end of each year ask your local bank for one of their free calendars and you'll have all main 'fiestas' marked. Alternatively read sun4free website which publishes dates each year.
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[bardofely]

[jenny]

I have a calendar on my wall and jot down on it (if it's not a Canarian one) when all the holidays are for the year. I suppose I am lucky and can get a list from the school but like Rob says, you can also get a free calendar from the bank. I think I posted the list on here somewhere a while ago.
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[jenny]

Checked and discovered what I'd written was last years. So here are this years coming fiestas:

1st May Fiesta del Trabajo
30th May Día de Canarias

15th August Asunción de la Virgen

1st November Todos los Santos

6th December Día de la Constitución
8th December Inmaculada Concepción
25th December Natividad
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I will make this day a happy one for I alone can determine what kind of day it will be.

[jenny]

and Rob had already posted the dates on here: http://www.sun4free.com/forum/sutra75062.html&highlight=fiesta#75062
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Who am I? Find out more here: http://www.myspacetenerife.com/index.php?page=view_profile&id=17

I will make this day a happy one for I alone can determine what kind of day it will be.