How Many Days Until Easter?
Easter moves by up to five weeks. Step through the calculation below to see why this year’s date is what it is.
When is Easter?
Western Easter is the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon on or after March 21, so it falls between March 22 and April 25. The date is computed with a fixed table-based method called the computus, not by watching the sky.
The church’s “full moon” comes from a table, and it can land a day or two off the one you’d see through the window. Wondering what makes a real full moon in the first place? ahaboo’s narrated explainer lets you line up the Sun, Earth and Moon and watch the phases happen.
The countdown uses your device’s clock and time zone and reaches zero at 00:00 local time on the day. The day count is in calendar days: on the day before, it reads 1.
Questions people ask
Why does Easter change every year?
It is tied to a church approximation of the first full moon after the March equinox, then pushed to the following Sunday.
What is the earliest and latest possible Easter?
Western Easter can fall as early as March 22 and as late as April 25.
Why is Orthodox Easter often later?
Orthodox churches apply the same idea to the Julian calendar, which usually puts their Easter one to five weeks later.
Step through the Easter calculation
- Where are we in the 19-year Moon cycle?
Every 19 years, lunar phases fall on almost the same calendar dates (the Metonic cycle). 2027 mod 19 = 13, so this is year 14 of the cycle.