Easter countdown
Western Easter is the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon on or after March 21, so its date changes every year. The next Easter Sunday is March 28, 2027, and the timer counts down to midnight at the start of that day in your time zone.
Countdowns run on your device's clock and time zone, so they reach zero at local midnight wherever you are.
Why the date moves
Western (Gregorian) date.
Dates for this event change every year; the table uses the published calendar dates.
How the date of Easter is calculated
The calculation is called the computus. Churches fixed March 21 as the nominal spring equinox and use tables of ecclesiastical full moons rather than the real astronomical moon, so everyone gets the same date regardless of where they live. Easter is the Sunday after the first such full moon falling on or after March 21. If that full moon is itself a Sunday, Easter moves to the following Sunday.
The result always lies between March 22 and April 25. Both ends are rare: the last March 22 Easter was in 1818 and the next is in 2285, while the last April 25 Easter was in 1943 and the next is in 2038. The coming Western dates are March 28, 2027, April 16, 2028, April 1, 2029 and April 21, 2030.
Western and Orthodox Easter
Orthodox churches apply the same rule to the Julian calendar, which is now 13 days behind the Gregorian one, and that usually puts their Easter one to five weeks later. Orthodox Easter is May 2 in 2027, April 8 in 2029 and April 28 in 2030. In 2028 both traditions celebrate on the same day, April 16, which happens several times each decade.
The rest of the season hangs on Easter. Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, is 46 days before Easter Sunday, Good Friday is two days before, and Pentecost is seven weeks after. In 2027 that puts Ash Wednesday on February 10 and Good Friday on March 26.
School holidays and travel
Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Germany and many other countries, so an early Easter like 2027's can move spring school breaks and pull travel demand into March. To see how many days lie between today and a spring trip, or between Easter and a deadline, use the days between dates calculator.
Next dates for Easter Sunday
| Date | Weekday | Days until |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | in 160 days | |
| Sunday | in 545 days | |
| Sunday | in 895 days | |
| Sunday | in 1,280 days |
Other countdowns
Frequently asked questions
- When is Easter 2027?
- Sunday, March 28, 2027. Easter 2028 is April 16 and Easter 2029 is April 1.
- What are the earliest and latest possible Easter dates?
- March 22 and April 25 in the Western calendar. The next March 22 Easter is in 2285; the next April 25 Easter is in 2038.
- When do Western and Orthodox Easter fall on the same day?
- When both calculations give the same Sunday, which happens several times each decade. The next shared date is April 16, 2028.
- Is the Easter date based on the real full moon?
- No. Churches use a table of ecclesiastical full moons and a fixed equinox of March 21, which can differ by a day or two from astronomical observations.
- How many days before Easter does Lent begin?
- Ash Wednesday falls 46 days before Easter Sunday: 40 days of fasting plus the six Sundays, which are not counted as fast days.