Easter and Passover: On Calendars and Group Identity--Annotations!

Zerubavel, Eviatar. 1982. "Easter and Passover: On Calendars and Group Identity." American Sociological Review 2: 284-289.

Zerubavel's article posits that the dates of Easter and Passover specifically have less to do with the significance of the actual dates and everything to do with the segregation of the two holy days from each other. Calendrical differences serve to solidify group identity, as similarity among group members alone cannot accomplish this.

The paper traces historically the controversy surrounding the establishment of Easter and Passover dates to the present, a set-up which ensures that the two holidays will never coincide any closer than a full day apart. This ensured distinction preserves the separate identities of the two social groups--the dates are not arbitrary, they contrast each other purposefully.

The most central idea in the text is that this calendrical difference is symbolic. Calendars regulate the collective memory of social groups, and that different social groups have different calendars is important and essential to maintaining separate group identities.