When Is Easter 2027?

When is Easter 2027?

Easter Sunday lands on Sunday, March 28, 2027 this year. Unlike Christmas, which sits firmly on December 25th every single year, Easter moves around the calendar, so it's always worth checking the date rather than relying on memory. Some years it shows up early in spring while the mornings are still chilly, and other years it arrives later once the weather has properly warmed up. The live countdown at the top of this page does the work for you, ticking down automatically so you always know exactly how many days are left.

What about Good Friday and Easter Monday?

Good Friday is always the Friday right before Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday is the Monday straight after. So whatever date Easter Sunday lands on, you can count back two days for Good Friday and forward one for Easter Monday. Neither is a federal holiday in the United States, though Good Friday is observed in a handful of states and by many schools and churches, so it's worth a quick check of your local calendar.

Why does the date of Easter change every year, and how is it calculated?

This is the part most people quietly wonder about. Easter is what's known as a movable feast, which is a fancy way of saying its date isn't fixed. The rule, set by the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, is this: Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox. That moon is known as the Paschal full moon, and the church pins the equinox to March 21st for the calculation, so Easter is guided by both the sun and the moon at the same time.

Because the full moon and the spring equinox don't line up neatly from one year to the next, Easter wanders around the calendar, always falling somewhere between March 22nd and April 25th. The same calculation is used across the Western world, so Easter lands on the same Sunday whether you're in the US, Canada, the UK or beyond. Here are the Western (Gregorian) Easter dates for the coming years:

• 2027: Sunday, March 28th
• 2028: Sunday, April 16th
• 2029: Sunday, April 1st
• 2030: Sunday, April 21st
• 2031: Sunday, April 13th

Western vs Orthodox Easter: why they differ

Easter isn't always the same date everywhere, and this trips a lot of people up. Western churches (Catholic, Protestant and Anglican) work out Easter on the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox churches such as the Greek and Russian Orthodox still calculate Pascha on the older Julian calendar, which now runs about 13 days behind. Both follow the same first-Sunday-after-the-spring-full-moon rule, but because they start from different calendars they often land on different Sundays.

Sometimes the gap is small and sometimes it's more than a month. In 2027, Western Easter falls on March 28th while Orthodox Easter is over five weeks later on May 2nd. Every so often the two line up perfectly, as they will in 2028 when both celebrate on April 16th. So if friends or family mark Orthodox Easter, it's worth checking both dates.

How Easter is celebrated in the US

Ask anyone what Easter morning looks like and the egg hunt will be near the top of the list, with kids racing around the yard hunting for brightly colored eggs and treats the Easter Bunny has tucked away. Easter baskets are the other big tradition, overflowing with chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, marshmallow chicks and a small toy or two. Then there's the food: Easter brunch brings everyone together over deviled eggs, glazed ham and fresh rolls, and many families dye hard-boiled eggs the day before or head to a sunrise service to round out the weekend.

Half the fun is the build-up, and now that you know the date you've got time to make it special. Pick up the candy and basket fillers early, plan the egg hunt route, and decide whether you're hosting brunch or heading to someone else's table. If you're looking for a little something extra to round out a basket or treat the family, our gifts are a nice place to browse for soft, cheerful ideas, so you'll be all set long before those 274 days have ticked away.