What is "movable feast"

Feast \Feast\ (f[=e]st), n. [OE. feste festival, holiday, feast, OF. feste festival, F. f[^e]te, fr. L. festum, pl. festa, fr. festus joyful, festal; of uncertain origin. Cf. Fair, n., Festal, F[^e]te.]

1. A festival; a holiday; a solemn, or more commonly, a joyous, anniversary.

   The seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord.
   --Ex. xiii. 6.

   Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
   --Luke ii. 41.

   Note: An Ecclesiastical feast is called a immovable feast when it always occurs on the same day of the year; otherwise it is called a movable feast. Easter is a notable movable feast.

2. A festive or joyous meal; a grand, ceremonious, or sumptuous entertainment, of which many guests partake; a banquet characterized by tempting variety and abundance of food.

   Enough is as good as a feast.
   --Old Proverb.

   Belshazzar the King made a great feast to a thousand of his lords.
   --Dan. v. 1.

3. That which is partaken of, or shared in, with delight; something highly agreeable; entertainment.

   The feast of reason, and the flow of soul.
   --Pope.

   Feast day, a holiday; a day set as a solemn commemorative festival.

   Syn: Entertainment; regale; banquet; treat; carousal; festivity; festival.

   Usage: Feast, Banquet, Festival, Carousal. A feast sets before us viands superior in quantity, variety, and abundance; a banquet is a luxurious feast; a festival is the joyful celebration by good cheer of some agreeable event. Carousal is unrestrained indulgence in frolic and drink.

n. a day of note, frequently Christian, the date of which moves from year to year according to a set of rules.

n. a religious holiday that falls on different dates in different years [syn: moveable feast]