List of dates for Easter

Summary

Table of (Gregorian) dates of Easter 2015–2030[1]
Year Full Moon Jewish Passover [note 1] Astronomical Easter [note 2] Gregorian Easter Julian Easter

2015 April 4 April 5 April 12
2016 March 23 April 23 March 27 May 1
2017 April 11 April 16
2018 March 31 April 1 April 8
2019 March 20 April 20 March 24 April 21 April 28
2020 April 8 April 9 April 12 April 19
2021 March 28 April 4 May 2
2022 April 16 April 17 April 24
2023 April 6 April 9 April 16
2024 March 25 April 23 March 31 May 5
2025 April 13 April 20
2026 April 3 April 2 April 5 April 12
2027 March 22 April 22 March 28 May 2
2028 April 9 April 11 April 16
2029 March 29 March 31 April 1 April 8
2030 April 17 April 18 April 21 April 28

  1. ^ Jewish Passover is on Nisan 15 of its calendar. It commences at sunset preceding the date indicated (as does Easter by some traditions).
  2. ^ Astronomical Easter is the first Sunday after the astronomical full moon after the astronomical March equinox as measured at the meridian of Jerusalem according to this WCC proposal.

This is a list of dates for Easter. The Easter dates also affect when Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost occur in a given year. Easter may occur on different dates in the Gregorian Calendar (Western) and the Julian Calendar (Orthodox or Eastern). The accompanying table provides both sets of dates, for recent and forthcoming years—see the computus article for more details on the calculation.

Earliest Easter edit

Western (Gregorian) edit

In 1818 the Paschal Full Moon fell on Saturday, March 21 (the equinox). Therefore, the following day, March 22 and the 81st day of the year, was Easter. It will not fall as early again until 2285, a span of 467 years. The next earliest Easter, March 23, in that timespan occurred in 1845, 1856, 1913, and 2008. Easter will next occur on March 23 in 2160. These are gaps of 11, 57, 95 and 152 years.

The earliest week by international standard reckoning is W12, and the 12th Sunday of the year is also the earliest possible Easter Sunday.

Orthodox (Julian) edit

The earliest dates for Easter in the Eastern Orthodox Church between 1875 and 2099 are April 4, 1915 and April 4, 2010 (Gregorian). Both dates are equivalent to 22 March in the Julian Calendar.

Latest Easter edit

Western (Gregorian) edit

In 1943 Easter fell on Sunday, April 25, the 115th day of the year. The last ecclesiastical full moon preceding the Paschal did not occur until March 20; prior to March 21, the fixed date to which the vernal equinox is assigned for the purposes of the computus, meaning the Paschal full moon did not happen until Sunday, April 18. Consequently, Easter was the following Sunday, April 25. Easter will next occur as late again in 2038—a span of 95 years. Easter may also occur on April 25 of a leap year, i.e. the 116th day of the year, but this has never occurred since the Gregorian reforms were implemented. The first time Easter will occur on April 25 in a leap year will be in 3784. This is also the only case where Easter is in ISO week W17, otherwise all occurrences after April 18 and on this day in leap years are in W16. In several cases, Easter falls onto the latest possible, 17th Sunday of the year. The first time that Easter will fall on April 24 in a leap year will be in 4292 which is also the 115th day of the year.

The second latest date for Easter, April 24 or day 114, occurred in 2011. The last time this occurred before was in 1859 and it will not happen again until 2095—spans of 152 and 84 years. Easter also occurred on the 114th day of the year on April 23 in 2000, a leap year.

Orthodox (Julian) edit

The latest dates for Orthodox Easter between 1875 and 2099 are May 8, 1983, and May 8, 2078 (Gregorian). Both dates are equivalent to April 25 in the Julian Calendar. Orthodox Easter has never fallen on Gregorian May 7 yet; it will happen in 2051 unless these churches change to another calendar.

Beginning March 14, 2100 (February 29, 2100, in the Julian Calendar), the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars will increase to 14 days.

Western and Orthodox Easter on the same date edit

Despite using calendars that are apart by 13 days, Western Easter and Orthodox Easter occasionally fall on the same date, as happened in 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2017. For example, according to the Western (Gregorian) calendar, the first Paschal Full Moon after the Spring Equinox (March 21) fell on Monday, April 14, 2014. The following Sunday, April 20, was, therefore, Easter Day.

According to the Orthodox (Julian) calendar (which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar), the Spring Equinox also falls on March 21. However, in the Gregorian Calendar, this is April 3. The first Orthodox Full Moon after the Equinox falls on (Julian) Tuesday, April 2, 2014 (Gregorian April 15). The following Sunday, (Julian) April 7, is, therefore, Easter Day (Gregorian April 20).

Range of dates for Western and Orthodox Easter edit

Both calendars (Gregorian and Julian) calculate Easter as falling on dates between March 22 and April 25 on their calendars. However, because of the current 13-day difference, Western Easter falls between March 10 and April 12 on the Julian calendar. Conversely, Orthodox Easter falls between April 4 and May 8 on the Gregorian calendar.

The possible dates of Easter depend on the first day of the year and hence its dominical letter. Each type has five possible dates of Easter. Note that some feasts that depend on the date of Easter (may) occur before the leap day, e.g. Shrove Monday.

Possible dates of Easter by type of year
DL 1 January 1 March Sundays in range
A Sunday Wednesday 26 March, 2, 9, 16, 23 April
BA Saturday
B Tuesday 27 March, 3, 10, 17, 24 April
CB Friday
C Monday 28 March, 4, 11, 18, 25 April
DC Thursday
D Sunday 22, 29 March, 5, 12, 19 April
ED Wednesday
E Saturday 23, 30 March, 6, 13, 20 April
FE Tuesday
F Friday 24, 31 March, 7, 14, 21 April
GF Monday
G Thursday 25 March, 1, 8, 15, 22 April
AG Sunday

Sundays on the dates March 22 through April 25 in the Gregorian calendar may be the 81st through 115th day of common years or 82nd through 116th day of leap years. They occur as the last day of ISO week number W12 through W17 and are also the 12th through 17th Sunday of the year, but these numbers mismatch in some years.

Occurrences, weeks and ordinal Sundays of the 35 Gregorian Easter dates
Variant Easter Sunday Count Latest[2] Next[2] DoY Week Sunday
1 March 22 4 1818 2285 081 W12 12th
1* 0 2972 082
2 March 23 2 1913 2600
2* 5 2008 2160 083
3 March 24 1 1799 2391
3* 1 1940 5280 084
4 March 25 7 1951 2035
4* 0 3792 085 13th
5 March 26 12 1989 2062
5* 1 1780 2084 086
6 March 27 9 2005 2157
6* 6 2016 2236 087
7 March 28 6 1937 2027
7* 4 1948 2032 088 W13
8 March 29 9 1970 2043
8* 3 1964 2116 089
9 March 30 14 1997 2059
9* 0 2092 090
10 March 31 16 2013 2086
10* 4 2024 2176 091
11 April 1 10 2018 2029
11* 6 1956 2040 092 14th
12 April 2 9 1961 2051
12* 5 1972 2056 093
13 April 3 8 1994 2067
13* 5 1988 2140 094
14 April 4 13 2021 2083
14* 1 1920 2488 095 W14
15 April 5 15 2015 2026
15* 3 1896 2048 096
16 April 6 12 1969 2042
16* 5 1980 2064 097
17 April 7 8 1985 2075
17* 5 1996 2080 098
18 April 8 8 2007 2091
18* 6 2012 2164 099 15th
19 April 9 9 2023 2034
19* 1 1944 2884 100
20 April 10 16 1977 2039
20* 0 2072 101
21 April 11 15 1993 2066
21* 4 2004 2088 102 W15
22 April 12 11 2009 2093
22* 5 2020 2172 103
23 April 13 8 1941 2031
23* 4 1952 2036 104
24 April 14 10 1974 2047
24* 4 1968 2120 105
25 April 15 14 2001 2063
25* 0 2096 106 16th
26 April 16 17 2017 2090
26* 3 1876 2028 107
27 April 17 10 2022 2033
27* 6 1960 2044 108
28 April 18 9 1965 2049
28* 5 1976 2060 109 W16
29 April 19 9 1987 2071
29* 5 1992 2076 110
30 April 20 11 2014 2025
30* 1 1924 2864 111
31 April 21 14 2019 2030
31* 1 1680 2052 112
32 April 22 8 1973 2057
32* 5 1984 2068 113 17th
33 April 23 1 1905 2079
33* 4 2000 2152 114
34 April 24 5 2011 2095
34* 0 4292 115
35 April 25 4 1943 2038
35* 0 3784 116 W17

(Variants with an asterisk * are in leap years.)

Public holidays edit

In Hungary, Kenya, the United Kingdom (except Scotland), Hong Kong, Australia, South Africa, Slovakia, Germany, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland and New Zealand, Easter has two public holidays, Good Friday and Easter Monday, making a four-day weekend. The movable date of Easter sometimes brings it into conflict with other, fixed or moveable, public holidays.

  • In the United Kingdom in 2000 and 2011, the May Day bank holiday was one week after Easter Monday, causing there to be three consecutive weeks with a bank holiday. (In Scotland this did not occur as Easter Monday is not a bank holiday.) In 2011, a bank holiday was declared on Friday 29 April for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton;[3] consequently there were four bank holidays within three consecutive calendar weeks (including two in one week), creating two consecutive four-day weekends (Friday 22 – Monday 25 April and Friday 29 April – Monday 2 May), with a three-day working week in between (Tuesday 26 – Thursday 28 April).
  • In Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in 2008, Saint Patrick's Day (Monday 17 March) fell six days before Easter (Sunday 23 March), creating a three-day week (Tuesday 18 – Thursday 20 March). This will next happen in 2035, when Saint Patrick's Day falls on Saturday, so the public holiday is moved forward to the following Monday 19 March, again six days before Easter.
    • In the Catholic liturgical calendar, saints' feasts are not observed when they fall during Holy Week; this caused Saint Patrick not to appear in the liturgical calendar for 2008; 17 March was simply celebrated as Holy Monday. In Ireland, the Church chose to celebrate Saint Patrick on Saturday 15 March instead.[4]
  • In Australia and New Zealand, ANZAC Day is a public holiday on 25 April. In 2000 and 2011, this created a five-day weekend over Easter: in 2000, Easter Monday fell on 24 April, with the following Tuesday, 25 April, then being ANZAC Day; in 2011, ANZAC Day and Easter Monday coincided on Monday 25 April, which led to a substitute public holiday being declared in Australia for Tuesday 26 April,[5] and likely contributed to New Zealand's introduction of Mondayising legislation in 2013. In 2003 and 2014, ANZAC Day fell on the Friday after Easter, and in 2019 it fell on the Thursday after Easter, and in 2038 it will fall on Easter Sunday; the consequence is three-day working weeks immediately following the Easter weekend.
  • In Hong Kong in 2021, Easter Sunday (4 April) coincided with the Ching Ming (Qingming) Festival, leading to public holidays on Monday 5 April (the day after Ching Ming) and Tuesday 6 April (the day after Easter Monday), and a five-day weekend (Friday 2 – Tuesday 6 April).[6]
  • Easter is not a federal holiday in the United States. In North Carolina, however, it was a public holiday from 1935 to 1987.[7]
  • In Denmark and Norway, Easter is celebrated with public holidays on the Maundy Thursday and Good Friday before, and Easter Monday, but schools and businesses traditionally have a half-day on the Wednesday as well.

References edit

  1. ^ "Towards a Common Date for Easter". Aleppo, Syria: World Council of Churches (WCC) / Middle East Council of Churches Consultation (MECC). 10 March 1997.
  2. ^ a b Robert H. van Gent. "Easter Sunday Frequencies". Perpetual Easter and Passover Calculator.
  3. ^ "Royal Wedding Bank Holiday in the United Kingdom". Archived from the original on 2017-04-15. Retrieved 2017-04-15.
  4. ^ "Irish bishops move St. Patrick's Day 2008 over conflict with Holy Week". Catholic News Agency. July 19, 2007. Archived from the original on April 6, 2021. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  5. ^ "National Holidays in Australia in 2021". Office Holidays. January 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-07-31. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  6. ^ "GovHK: General holidays for 2021". GovHK (www.gov.hk). Archived from the original on 2021-06-12. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  7. ^ "Easter Monday in the United States". TimeAndDate.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2016.

External links edit

  • List of Easter Sunday Dates (1700–2299) by Astronomical Society of South Australia
  • Interactive calculator generates historical feast dates in Julian calendar prior to 1582 Gregorian reforms
  • Side-by-side Easter reference, Orthodox and Catholic dates in the Gregorian and Julian calendars tabular data, full centuries.