Easter is the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, observed on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. It is the central holiday of the Christian liturgical year.
The Council of Nicaea in AD 325 established the formula for Easter's date. The English word "Easter" likely derives from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Ēostre, whose festival the early Christian church absorbed. The Eastern Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar and a slightly different lunar reckoning, so Orthodox Easter often falls one to five weeks after Western Easter. Easter 2026 is April 5 (Western) and April 12 (Orthodox).
The Easter Triduum begins with Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday), continues through Good Friday (commemoration of the Crucifixion), Holy Saturday vigil, and culminates in Easter Sunday. Sunrise services, special church liturgies, family meals, and egg-themed games are common. Lent — 40 days of fasting and reflection — precedes Easter.
Roast lamb is widely traditional, drawing on Passover origins. Hot cross buns (Good Friday, British), simnel cake (UK), pasca (Romania), tsoureki (Greece), colomba di Pasqua (Italy), babka (Poland). Chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies dominate the secular celebration.
"Happy Easter" · "Frohe Ostern" · "Joyeuses Pâques" · "Felices Pascuas" · "Buona Pasqua" · "Selamat Paskah" · "Христос воскресе!" (Christ is risen!) with response "Воистину воскресе!" (Truly risen!)
Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays in most European countries, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. In the US, only Good Friday is observed in some states; Easter Sunday itself is not a federal holiday. Many businesses close from Good Friday through Easter Monday creating a 4-day weekend.
This holiday is also publicly observed in: