Although December is colder than March or April records show that when it comes to snow, there's not much difference between Christmas and Easter.

When the moveable festival falls early, as it has this year, cold weather seems more likely and calls to fix the date grow more numerous.

After much debate an Act was finally passed in 1928 that fixed Easter to the first Sunday following the second Saturday in April. The World Council of Churches had to agree to this, but they didn't, so it has never become law.

As Easter has to fall around the time of the Jewish Passover it seems unlikely that the calculation of the oldest feast in the Christian calendar, will ever be altered.

It's not only the date of Easter that causes controversy: there's also argument over the very name itself. Other European languages use variants of pasche, a latin-based word for the festival, so in calling it Easter we're on our own.

The reason for this is obscure, and the observations of the Venerable Bede haven't helped. Writing soon after the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, Bede declared that Easter was called after a Saxon goddess named Eostre.

But there's no other evidence for this goddess, so it seems that Bede simply invented a plausible explanation. It's more likely that Easter is linked to 'east', and thus to ancient words in other languages meaning 'dawn'.

After all, at the time of the spring equinox the year itself feels re-born.

Another puzzle is why the Friday before Easter is called "Good". As the day commemorating the crucifiction it hardly seems to be good at all, but this has been its name since at least 1290.

In those days "good" was used to denote holiness, and the day was also known as Holy Friday.

Another name was Long Friday, perhaps because it was a very solemn day.

There was a widespread belief that cross buns made on Good Friday never went mouldy, so they were kept to use as a cure-all throughout the year. Grated into milk, they made a remedy for digestive disorders.

Some put their faith in cross buns hung up in the kitchen to protect the house from fire, while others maintained that the bread protected against shipwreck.

In contrast to Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Monday were days of celebration. Crowds flocked to fairs and gatherings all over the country to take part in sports and customs.

It was thought essential to have new clothes, or at least one new item, so this was when the year's new fashions were worn for the first time.