How to use the Easter date finder
- Type a Year from 1583 to 4099. It starts on 2027.
- Read Western Easter (Catholic, Protestant) and Orthodox Easter, both as Gregorian dates.
- Check Orthodox date in the Julian calendar to see the date the Orthodox calendar itself uses, and the Gap in weeks.
- Look at Related Western dates for Ash Wednesday through to Pentecost.
- The last table lists the next ten years of both Easters; use CSV to download it.
What it does and when to use it
Easter sets many other dates: school spring holidays, bank holidays such as Good Friday and Easter Monday in many countries, Lent, and church events through to Pentecost. Families with relatives in both traditions often want both dates side by side, and planners booking venues or travel years ahead need them early.
To see how many days remain until Easter, put the date into the days until calculator. To count working days around the holiday, list Good Friday and Easter Monday as holidays in the business days calculator. The day of the week finder shows the weekday of any other date you need.
How it works
Western Easter uses the Anonymous Gregorian algorithm, as given by Jean Meeus in Astronomical Algorithms. A short chain of whole-number divisions turns the year into the date of the church’s spring full moon and then the Sunday after it.
Orthodox Easter uses Meeus’s Julian algorithm, which gives a date in the Julian calendar. The tool then converts it to the Gregorian calendar through a day count, which is why the result shows both forms. The related days are fixed offsets from Western Easter Sunday:
| Day | Offset from Easter Sunday |
|---|---|
| Ash Wednesday | 46 days before |
| Palm Sunday | 7 days before |
| Maundy Thursday | 3 days before |
| Good Friday | 2 days before |
| Easter Monday | 1 day after |
| Ascension Day | 39 days after |
| Pentecost | 49 days after |
Worked examples
2027. Western Easter is Sunday 28 March 2027 and Orthodox Easter: Sunday, 2 May 2027 (19 April in the Julian calendar), 5 weeks apart. Ash Wednesday is 10 February and Good Friday is 26 March.
2028. Both fall on Sunday 16 April 2028, so the tool reports Gap: Celebrated on the same day. Pentecost follows on 4 June.
1500. Outside the range, so you get the message Enter a year from 1583 to 4099 (the range these Gregorian-calendar algorithms cover).
Limits and tips
- Related dates are for Western churches only. Orthodox Lent and Pentecost follow Orthodox Easter instead.
- National holidays based on Easter differ by country, so check which days are official where you live.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Easter move every year?
Why do Western and Orthodox churches usually celebrate on different days?
Is this based on the real full moon?
Why can't I go before 1583?
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