When is Easter this year? How is the date determined?
Easter is a moveable feast - it can happen anytime between 22 March and 25 April. It is set using a mathematical calculation of the lunar and solar cycles.
Easter is one of the most important feast days in Christianity, celebrating the events around Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. It comes at the end of Holy Week which lasts seven days. However, it is a moveable feast - the exact date moves from year to year and is determined by a mathematical calculation of the lunar and solar cycles.
To put it simply, Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon - on or following the spring or vernal equinox, set by the church as being 21 March. Which means that Easter can occur anytime between 22 March and 25 April.
This year, Easter Sunday falls on 31 March 2024 - a week earlier than last year. Good Friday will be on 29 March, and Easter Monday on Monday 1 April. While Easter is a public holiday in many parts of the world, it is not a federal holiday in the United States although some businesses close and the US stock market is closed for trading on Good Friday.
How the date for Easter is determined
The method for determining the date for the Easter celebration was established by the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. Neither the spring equinox nor the Paschal Moon used to calculate when the feast day will occur are the actual ones. The actual spring equinox can fall on any day between 19 and 22 March. The date of the Paschal Moon, the first full moon on or after 21 March, is set by the Metonic cycle, a 19-year cycle defining 19 specific days when the Paschal Moon can occur.
The calculation allows the church to set the date well into the future. Under the Julian calendar, the math was pretty simple but the Gregorian calendar complicates matters with leap years, which contains an additional day (29 February). The Royal Museums Greenwich breaks down the full algorithm used to calculate the date for Easter.
Not all Christians celebrate Easter on the same day
Most Orthodox Christians still use the Julian calendar to calculate when Easter will be celebrated. While they use the same dates between 22 March and 25 April, those dates correspond to 3 April and 10 May in the Gregorian calendar. There are some years when both Easters fall on the same day, the next time will be 20 April 2025.