Christmas is always 25 December. But Easter? It wanders across March and April like it owns the calendar. Why Easter moves every year is a question with a 1,700-year-old answer — a blend of astronomy, ancient church politics and lunar arithmetic called the computus. And once you understand it, the whole family of movable feasts — Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension, Whit Monday — falls into place. In 2026, the Easter weekend runs 3–6 April; here is why it could not be anywhere else.
The Rule: The First Sunday After the First Full Moon of Spring
The rule, settled at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, defines Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after 21 March (the ecclesiastical spring equinox). Note the careful wording: it is not the astronomical full moon but an ecclesiastical approximation, computed from tables rather than telescopes. In 2026, the paschal full moon falls in early April, making Easter Sunday 5 April 2026, with Good Friday on 3 April and Easter Monday on 6 April. A year with an earlier full moon gets a March Easter; a later one pushes Easter deep into April — the possible range spans 22 March to 25 April.
The Computus: Math Instead of Moon-Watching
The medieval church needed a method anyone could compute centuries ahead, so it built the computus — a set of tables and formulas using the 19-year Metonic cycle, which reconciles lunar months with solar years. The famous “golden number” of a year encodes its position in this cycle. It is pure arithmetic: no observation required, no weather dependence, no committee vote. That is why Easter dates can be — and are — published centuries in advance with total confidence. The Orthodox churches use a similar but distinct calculation (the Julian calendar), which is why Orthodox Easter usually falls on a different Sunday.
The Family of Movable Feasts
Easter is the anchor; everything else floats with it. Good Friday is always the Friday before Easter Sunday; Easter Monday the day after. Ascension Day falls 39 days after Easter (14 May 2026), Whit Monday 50 days after (25 May 2026), and Corpus Christi — a public holiday in parts of Germany, Austria and elsewhere — 60 days after. Lent, Carnival and Ash Wednesday all count backwards from Easter. So a single lunar calculation ripples through the entire spring calendar, which is why getting Easter right matters far beyond one Sunday.
Why It Still Matters
In practical terms, Easter’s mobility shapes school spring breaks, travel prices and retail calendars across the Christian world — a March Easter and an April Easter create completely different holiday seasons. There have been periodic calls to fix Easter to a specific Sunday (the UK even passed — but never implemented — an Easter Act in 1928), yet the ancient system endures, now as much tradition as theology. For 2026, mark 3–6 April: Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday — movable, but never mysterious, once you know the rule.
Planning tips
A good habit is to review the holiday list at the start of each quarter, mark the dates that affect your work or family plans, and note any bridge days where taking one extra day creates a long weekend. Remember that rules for pay, closures and observances differ by country, region and employer.
Use this guide as a starting point, compare it with the official source for your location and check again closer to the date, since announcements and local arrangements can change. Sharing the dates early with family, colleagues and customers also avoids last-minute surprises.