You may not even know when Easter is, even if you know what it is all about. After all, while Christmas reliably falls on December 25 each year, Easter hops around, so to speak. Yes, it’s continually on a Sunday, but from time to time that Sunday is in March and it is chilly. Sometimes it’s in late April, and anyone can get dressed in their best clothes without bundling up below a bulky winter coat. What day is Easter in 2024, and why is the holiday date different every year?

Here are the answers to both of those questions – to satisfy your curiosity and to help you plan your favorite Easter traditions, from creating the ideal Easter baskets packed with nice sweets to hosting a massive family dinner.

When is Easter 2024?

Holidays like Easter aren’t set in stone. Instead, a lunisolar calendar—which synchronizes the phases of the moon with the sun’s position within the sky—is used to decide the dates of these activities.

Easter Sunday in 2024 falls on March 31, a little more than a week ahead of schedule, as opposed to April 9 in 2023. Good Friday, being a national holiday, will consequently fall on Friday, March 29. Monday, April 1, will mark the end of a four-day weekend, with Easter Monday falling on that day.

This time of year is known for a number of traditions. Egg painting is a popular and easy craft. During Easter, children love going to petting zoos, where they can feed and stroke bunnies and different animals. After Thanksgiving and Christmas, the size of the Easter weekend meal is the third largest.

Why does Easter change each year?

The date of Passover changes every year due to the lunar cycle on which the Jewish calendar is based, and Easter is related to that holiday to some extent. But it’s more complex than that. The Christian calendar is really tied to the solar calendar, and the timing of the main holidays has to do with the seasons and with light, explains Natalia Imperatori-Lee, Ph.D., professor of religious research at Manhattan College. This is the reason Christmas falls accidentally around the winter solstice, following the longest night time, when ‘the Light of the World’ arrives.

Easter’s precise date may additionally appear arbitrary, but it’s always on the Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, and that can fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25. Why the full moon? Maximum light! The resurrection is set at maximum light—symbolically. So that Sunday, right after the equinox (which has 12 hours of light and 12 of darkness), plus the fullness of the moon (lots of light), means maximum light—the appropriate day for the holiest ceremonial dinner in the Christian year.

The choice as to whether to celebrate Easter—and whether or not it needs to coincide with Passover—became a topic hashed out among bishops at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. A greater standardized calendar, the Gregorian one, was established in the 16th century, under Pope Gregory XIII, and that’s the internationally accepted civic calendar that most of the world follows these days. Orthodox Christians, however, still observe the Julian calendar, the preceding one created by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, which means that Easter falls between April 4 and May 8 for them.

Is Easter Always in March or April?

Easter is a “movable holiday,” so it doesn’t appear on the same date from year to year. In the Gregorian calendar, it is constantly celebrated on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Easter is observed from April 4 to May 8.

What Is the Most Common Easter Date?

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, which researched Easter dates between 1600 and 2099, the most common dates for Easter are March 31 and April 16. Easter has landed or will land on each of those dates in 22 instances throughout that 500-year period.

What is the Most Unusual Easter Date?

The most unusual Easter date is the 22nd of March, with the 23rd of March and the 24th of April nearly as unlikely.

How is the Date of Easter Determined?

Based solely on mathematical calculations, Easter occurs on the first Sunday following the Full Moon date, which is on or after March 21. Easter is commonly observed on the Sunday after a full moon that falls on a Sunday.

Although Easter is liturgically associated with the start of spring within the Northern Hemisphere (March equinox) and the Full Moon, its date is not based totally on the real astronomical date of both occasions.

Regardless of time zone, March 21 is the Church’s date of the March equinox. However, the actual date of the equinox varies between March 19 and March 22, and the date depends on the time zone. The date of the Paschal Full Moon, used to decide the date of Easter, is primarily based on mathematical calculations following a 19-year cycle referred to as the Metonic cycle. In some years, both dates do not align with the dates of the astronomical events, but they can also coincide.

What is the Golden Number?

The golden number is a key component in figuring out the date of Easter because it determines which year inside the Metonic cycle we are currently in. It may be decided through the formula:

Golden Number = X mod 19 + 1

To simplify, we take the current year in the Christian era, like 2009, and divide it by 19, after which we add 1 day. The Saltus, or extra day, balances the calendar by making up for the small difference between the solar year and the lunar months.

The golden number is vital in this calculation because Easter should fall on a Sunday within the third week of a lunar month that falls after the spring equinox. The calculation of the month is made easier by the golden number because this is a complex idea that can be difficult to understand. The spring equinox, which occurs on March 21st, is essentially determined by the solar calendar. At the same time, the traditional month system was primarily based on lunar months, and Easter was determined primarily based on this lunar system.

Finding the golden number helps you discern exactly where the lunar month is in relation to March 21st. Once you understand which lunar month has its midpoint, or formal full moon, after March 21st, you may then take that Sunday and determine when Easter is. In other words, in the sun calendar, which most of us use on a daily basis, Easter seems to move around the calendar between March 22nd and April 25th. But within the lunar system, which the golden number represents, Easter always falls on the third Sunday of the Paschal month, each and every year.

Conclusion

In 2024, Easter will fall on March 31 since the dates change every year. Learn about the most unusual and common Easter date, Golden number and whether Easter falls only in March or April in this interesting article. Check out the above article to find out why does the Easter date change every year and some interesting facts about Easter.

FAQ’s: When is Easter 2024?

1. What happened to Jesus at Easter?

There are different Good Friday processions or Crucifixion reenactments in several nations. Easter Sunday marks Jesus’s resurrection. After Jesus was crucified on Friday, his body was taken down from the grave and buried in a cave tomb.

2. Why is it called Easter?

The name of the holiday “Easter” goes back to the name of a pre-Christian goddess in England, Eostre, who became celebrated at the start of spring. The only reference to this goddess comes from the writings of the Venerable Bede, a British monk who lived in the late 7th and early 8th centuries.

3. Why is Easter always on a Sunday?

One thing about Easter never changes: that it’s on a Sunday. That’s due to the fact that the holiday is established around Jesus’s death and resurrection. Christian doctrine holds that Jesus rose from the dead a few days later on Sunday and died on what is now known as Good Friday before ascending into heaven.

4. Why is it referred to as a Good Friday?

If Good Friday is a day of sorrow and remembrance, it begs the question: why is it known as “Good” Friday? Good Friday is referred to as “good” because of the religious importance of the day for Christians, who consider that Jesus’s demise on the cross became the last sacrifice for humanity’s sins.