What date do Jehovah's Witnesses celebrate the death of Christ?

Answer 1

Strictly speaking JW's do not celebrate Jesus' death. They celebrate the memorial of the last supper, also called the Lord's Evening Meal. They do this on the modern equivalent of Nisan 14. The date changes each year because it is a solar measurement, but is mostly in the beginning of April. They meet, pass around wine and unleavened bread, but 99% are not permitted to partake as Jesus directed.

Answer 2

The ancient Hebrews used a lunar calendar. It used the phases of the moon. A month ran from new moon to new moon. This was the calendar that Jesus and the apostles used. To contrast that, we today use a solar calendar. It is based on the phases of the sun.

Jesus' death occured in the Jewish lunar month of Nisan. (pronounced: ny-san) This month began on the first new moon visible in Jerusalem, after the spring equinox. The death of Jesus occured on Nisan the 14th. Interestingly, their days did noyt run from midnight to midnight, like our's do, but rather their days ran from sundown to sundown. In other words, Nisan the 14th began at sundown (around dinner time) and then ended the next evening at sundown.

So, Jehovah's Witnesses use the same method of calculating the date for the observance using the same calendar that Jesus and the apostles used back in the first century.

They observe the Memorial of the Death of Jesus Christ on Nisan 14, each year. Nisan begins on the first new moon as visible in Jerusalem after the spring equinox. Nisan the 14th begins at sundown, 13 days later. This day will move around inside about a three week window from about mid-March to nearly Mid April. JW's observe the Lord's Evening Meal after sundown at the beginning of Nisan 14, which corresponds to the timing of the events, when Jesus observed this occasion with his with his faithful disciples just after sundown at the beginning of Nisan 14.

Another answer:

Actually, Jesus died on Passover, Nisan 15. Jehovah's Witnesses misunderstand the Jewish phrase translated as "between the evenings" to mean from sundown to dark. In actuality, this term indicated the afternoon; between noon and sundown. Rather than being prepared following the end of Nisan 13, the Passover lamb was to be slaughtered in the afternoon of Nisan 14 and eaten on the next Jewish day which began at sundown, or Nisan 15. Jews today, still celebrate Passover on Nisan 15 and there is Biblical evidence for the date of Nisan 14 being the preparation day and Nisan 15 being the day it was eaten.

Numbers 33:3 refers to morning after Passover as Nisan 15, which would be the same Jewish day as the night before. Exodus 29:38-41 identifies the second sacrifice of the day as "between the evenings" and if that had been after sundown, it would have been the first sacrifice of the day and not the second. The lamps in the tent of meeting were to be lit by evening (Exodus 27:20-21) and Aaron was instructed to light them "between the evenings" (Exodus 30:8)

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The anniversary of Jesus' death or the Memorial of Christ will be commemorated

after sunset on Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Jehovah's Witnesses will invite everyone they meet to join with them on that date to examine what makes Jesus and his sacrifice so vitally important.

14 Nisan (after sunset) the Memorial of the Death of Jesus Christ, also called the Lord's Supper, is the only holiday observed by the 7th Day Adventist and by all of Jehovah's Witnesses. An average of 20 million people attend this observance.

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Answer 3

It will be celebrated tonight, March 30, 2010, after sundown. This date corresponds with the Passover which was held annually on Nisan 14 on the Jewish calendar. All persons are warmly invited to attend.

Answer 4

The Memorial is when Jehovah's Witnesses remember the death of Jesus Christ. It is their most important meeting and is held on the evening of the Jewish month of Nisan 14. The meeting consists of a short discourse followed by the passing around to all in attendence bread and wine. The meeting concludes with a song and prayer and lasts about 1 hour.

Answer 5

The date that Jehovah's Witnesses commemorate the death of Jesus Christ occurs on the anniversary of his death on Nisan 14.

It was at this Passover in 33 CE (the night of his death) that Jesus instituted a "new covenant" recorded at 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 " "I received from the Lord that which I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was going to be handed over took a loaf and, after giving thanks, he broke it and said: 'This means my body which is in your behalf. Keep doing this in remembrance of me.' He did likewise respecting the cup also, after he had the evening meal, saying: 'This cup means the new covenant by virtue of my blood. Keep doing this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he arrives."
In fact, because Jesus had "fulfilled the law" (Galatians 3:24), there was a need for a "new covenant" (Hebrews 8:13). This new covenant would be the next step towards reconciling sinful mankind to their Grand Creator - by means of the sacrifice of Jesus.
And so, today, Jehovah's Witnesses observe annually the memorial of Jesus death on the date corresponding to Nisan 14 (the date Jesus observed the Passover and ended in the death of Jesus Christ).

The next Memorial is Friday, April 3, 2015