Easter Date Calculator
Find the exact date of Western (Gregorian) Easter Sunday using the Meeus/Jones/Butcher algorithm — always a Sunday between March 22 and April 25.
April 5, 2026 (Sunday)
Day 95 of 2026 · ISO week 14
Western Easter always falls between March 22 and April 25. This one is 14 days after the earliest possible date.
April 12, 2026 (Sunday)
How the date is reached
- The Church fixes the spring equinox on March 21.
- The Paschal full moon, the first full moon on or after that day by the Church’s tables, falls on Thursday, April 2.
- Easter is the first Sunday after that full moon: Sunday, April 5.
2026’s golden number is 13 — its place in the 19-year cycle after which the new moons fall on the same dates again — and its epact is 11, the Church’s age of the moon at the start of the year. The tables read the Paschal full moon from the two.
Year in, Easter Sunday out
Type a year and this tool instantly shows the date of Western (Gregorian) Easter Sunday for that year. It uses the Anonymous Gregorian algorithm — also known as the Meeus/Jones/Butcher computus — which computes Easter purely from the year with no lookup tables. Western Easter always lands on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25, and this calculator returns the precise month and day so you can plan holidays, church calendars, school breaks, or any date that depends on Easter such as Good Friday, Ash Wednesday, or Pentecost. Under the answer it gives the day of the year and the ISO week the date falls in, and how many days after the earliest possible date this Easter is; Copy link sends the year you are looking at. “Which years is Easter on…” asks it the other way round: pick one of the dates Easter can fall on — April Fool's Day, say — and it names the last year before the one in the box with Easter on that date, and the next one after.
How the date of Easter is determined
Since the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, Easter has been defined as the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon on or after the vernal equinox (fixed at March 21). Because that combines the solar year with a lunar cycle, the date shifts every year. The Meeus/Jones/Butcher algorithm encodes these church rules as a short sequence of integer divisions and remainders, giving the correct Gregorian (Western) Easter for any year from 1583 onward — the first full year of the Gregorian calendar. Orthodox churches that still follow the Julian calendar can celebrate on a different date; this tool shows that Orthodox date too, under the Western one. Under the working, a line names the year's golden number — its place in the Metonic cycle, after which the new moons fall on the same dates again — and its epact, the Church's age of the moon at the start of the year: the two figures the Church's tables read the Paschal full moon from.
Frequently asked questions
Which Easter does this calculate — Western or Orthodox?
Both. The main answer is Western (Gregorian) Easter, the date observed by Catholic and most Protestant churches. Eastern Orthodox Easter is based on the older Julian calendar and can fall on a different Sunday; the page shows it under the Western date.
Why does Easter's date change every year?
Easter is the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon on or after March 21. Because it depends on both the solar year and the lunar cycle, it moves around, always landing between March 22 and April 25.
Can I see Easter for several years, and how the date is found?
Yes. Set how many years to list and a table gives the Paschal full moon, Western Easter and Orthodox Easter for each. Under the answer, the working goes from the equinox to the Paschal full moon and its weekday, then to the Sunday after it.
What else does it say about the date?
Under the answer it gives the day of the year and the ISO week the date falls in, and a line saying that Western Easter always falls between March 22 and April 25 and how many days after the earliest possible date this one is. A line under the working also names the year's golden number and epact, the two figures the Church's tables find the Paschal full moon from.
Can it find the years Easter fell on a given date, like April Fool's Day?
Yes. Pick a date in “Which years is Easter on…” — any of the dates Easter can fall on — and the page gives the last year before the one in the box when Easter fell on it, and the next year after: from 2026, Easter on 1 April was last in 2018 and comes next in 2029.