--- title: What Day Is Easter and Why Is Easter So Early description: Here is why Easter is so early this year and why Easter Sunday is on different Sundays, different days canonical: https://time.com/4263556/easter-date-what-day-is-easter/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-25T15:57:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:44.130Z og:title: Here's Why Easter Is Early This Year og:description: Different calendars use different dates og:url: https://time.com/4263556/easter-date-what-day-is-easter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Why Easter Is Early This Year twitter:description: Different calendars use different dates twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here's Why Easter Is Early This Year ## Video: Raw: Watch Easter Sunday At The Vatican [Watch (HLS stream): Raw: Watch Easter Sunday At The Vatican](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/e90HkYbG.m3u8) (1:08)  _Published 2016-03-27_  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 25, 2016 3:57 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 25, 2016 3:57 PM UTC Feel like you’re seeing [PEEPs](http://time.com/3985460/pumpkin-spice-peeps/) and [Cadbury Creme Eggs](http://time.com/4260985/cadbury-creme-eggs-london-crodough-cronut/) earlier than usual? Well, that’s partly because Easter is a week earlier this year. Easter, the day Christians commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is known as a “moveable feast” because the dates are always different. Likewise, the dates for holidays leading up to it—Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday—shift accordingly. Easter can fall on any Sunday between March 22 and April 25, according to the Gregorian calendar. Introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, it is known as the system that Western Christian churches use to calculate the date. But this method is not in sync with the “lunar” calendar. One explanation, from the [_Explanatory Supplement to The Astronomical Almanac_](http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/calendars.html): --- > “” --- Eastern Orthodox churches, on the other hand, follow the solar, Julian calendar, adopted by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. This timetable [has been ](https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C5CHFA%5FenUS680US680&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=julian+calendar+13+days+ahead&start=20)[13 days ahead](https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C5CHFA%5FenUS680US680&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=julian+calendar+13+days+ahead&start=20) of the Gregorian calendar, so that’s why “the Orthodox Easter celebration usually occurs later than that celebrated by Protestants and Roman Catholics,” according to Encyclopedia Britannica. “The Orthodox tradition prohibits Easter from being celebrated before or at the same time as Passover.” For decades, [storekeepers,](http://time.com/3758654/easter-date-change/) even religious leaders, have called for a set day for the holiday. Last spring, Pope Francis said he was open to the idea of a [fixed date](http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/gift-of-unity-will-pope-francis-change-the-date-of-easter) for Easter, and earlier this year, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, announced that he was working with other Christian churches to decide on one in the next [“five to 10 years”](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35326237) — recommending it fall on either the second or third Sunday of April. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4263556/easter-date-what-day-is-easter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4263556/easter-date-what-day-is-easter/"},"headline":"Here's Why Easter Is Early This Year","datePublished":"2016-03-25T15:57:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:44.130Z","description":"Different calendars use different dates","url":"https://time.com/4263556/easter-date-what-day-is-easter/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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