Since Easter hops around the calendar like its namesake bunny, it’s a little tough to calculate on your own.
Apart from always occurring on a Sunday, and always during March or April (for the Western observance) and always during April or May (for the Orthodox observance), the date for Easter is not fixed on a regular calendar.
For Westerners — those who observe with western rite churches and/or the Easter bunny — Easter falls on the first Sunday after a full moon, following the vernal equinox. Eastern rite churches (including Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox), however, base the dates off the Julian calendar, which Europe stopped using in 1582.
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How is the date for Easter calculated?
Since Easter hops around the calendar like its namesake bunny, it’s a little tough to calculate on your own.
For Westerners — those who observe with western rite churches and/or the Easter bunny — Easter falls on the first Sunday after a full moon, following the vernal equinox. Eastern rite churches (including Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox), however, base the dates off the Julian calendar, which Europe stopped using in 1582.
If you want to understand more, you can get a lot more information about the calculations involved, check out this page from — of all places — the US Navy’s Astronomical Applications Department.
Easter dates through 2025
Here’s a calendar that will get you through the first quarter of the 21st century:
Easter Sunday (Western): April 8, 2012
Easter Sunday (Orthodox): April 15, 2012
Easter Sunday (Western): March 31, 2013
Easter Sunday (Orthodox): May 5, 2013
Easter Sunday (Western): April 20, 2014
Easter Sunday (Orthodox): April 20, 2014
Easter Sunday (Western): April 5, 2015
Easter Sunday (Orthodox): April 12, 2015
Easter Sunday (Western): March 27, 2016
Easter Sunday (Orthodox): May 1, 2016
Easter Sunday (Western): April 16, 2017
Easter Sunday (Orthodox): April 16, 2017
Easter Sunday (Western): April 1, 2018
Easter Sunday (Orthodox): April 8, 2018
Easter Sunday (Western): April 21, 2019
Easter Sunday (Orthodox): April 28, 2019
Easter Sunday (Western): April 12, 2020
Easter Sunday (Orthodox): April 19, 2020
Easter Sunday (Western): April 4, 2021
Easter Sunday (Orthodox): May 2, 2021
Easter Sunday (Western): April 17, 2022
Easter Sunday (Orthodox): April 24, 2022
Easter Sunday (Western): April 9, 2023
Easter Sunday (Orthodox): April 16, 2023
Easter Sunday (Western): March 31, 2024
Easter Sunday (Orthodox): May 5, 2024
Easter Sunday (Western): April 20, 2025
Easter Sunday (Orthodox): April 20, 2025
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