Dates for Lent, Easter & Advent: 2024 To 2040
KEY DATES IN THE CHRISTIAN YEAR
Year
|
Ash Wednesday*
(First Day of Lent)
|
Easter Sunday
|
Ascension
(Thursday)
|
Pentecost
(Whit Sunday)
|
First Sunday of
Advent
|
|
2024 |
14 February
|
31 March
|
09 May
|
19 May
|
01 December
|
2025
|
05 March
|
20 April
|
29 May
|
08 June
|
30 November
|
2026
|
18 February
|
05 April
|
14 May
|
24 May
|
29 November
|
2027
|
10 February
|
28 March
|
06 May
|
16 May
|
28 November
|
2028
|
01 March
|
16 April
|
25 May
|
04 June
|
03 December
|
2029
|
14 February
|
01 April
|
10 May
|
20 May
|
02 December
|
2030
|
06 March
|
21 April
|
30 May
|
09 June
|
01 December
|
2031
|
26 February
|
13 April
|
22 May
|
01 June
|
30 November
|
2032
|
11 February
|
28 March
|
06 May
|
16 May
|
28 November
|
2033
|
02 March
|
17 April
|
26 May
|
05 June
|
27 November
|
2034
|
22 February
|
09 April
|
18 May
|
28 May
|
03 December
|
2035
|
07 February
|
25 March
|
03 May
|
13 May
|
02 December
|
2036
|
27 February
|
13 April
|
22 May
|
01 June
|
30 November
|
2037
|
18 February
|
05 April
|
14 May
|
24 May
|
29 November
|
2038
|
10 March
|
25 April
|
03 June
|
13 June
|
28 November
|
2039
|
23 February
|
10 April
|
19 May
|
29 May
|
27 November
|
2040
|
15 February
|
01 April
|
10 May
|
20 May
|
02 December
|
Why is Easter always on a different date each year?
That's a very good question!
The position of Easter in the year is not like Christmas Day or Epiphany, which happen on the same dates each year (25th December and 6th January). I'm sure many people would find forward planning a lot easier if Easter happened at the same time year after year. But it doesn't, for good reasons.
If you read the Easter story carefully, you'll notice that all the events for what we call Easter were centred on a national Jewish religious holiday, the feast of Passover. The position of Passover in the year was based on the lunar calendar. The movement of the moon around the Earth and the Earth around the sun are not neat and tidy and don't conform to a 365-day year. Indeed, they don't even rotate around each other in perfect circles, but ellipses! This means that the phases of the moon, full moons, etc., don't happen at the same time each year.
So, how is the date for Easter worked out?
"Up to the 8th century AD, there was no uniform method for determining the date of Easter, but ... [a] method favoured by the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 gradually became the accepted method."
Well, a generalised starting point for Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Protestants gives the basic parameters for Easter thus -
"Easter falls on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April [each year], but working out which Sunday exactly requires an astronomical calculation."
... and is followed by
"The simple standard definition of Easter is that it is the first Sunday after the full Moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox. If the full Moon falls on a Sunday then Easter is the next Sunday."
These quotes come from the website for the Royal Museums at Greenwich (as of 6th May 2024). The "astronomical calculation" mentioned above is astronomical in terms of the planetary movements of our solar system and the mind-boggling complexity of the mathematics involved to compensate for a variety of factors, e.g., latitude and longitude. If you want your mind truly boggled, click on the link above and then scroll down.