There’s a good, if complicated, reason Easter can be celebrated anytime between March 22 and April 25. It’s a movable feast, meaning it doesn’t take place on the same day every year, but it does always fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox.
That means the holiday can fall on 35 possible dates, some of which don’t repeat for centuries. In 2025, it landed on April 20, which was also the date of Easter in 2014 and 2003; before the 21st century, though, Easter hadn’t been on April 20 since 1930. The date is tied to the lunar cycle, a repeating pattern that tends to coalesce around a relatively small number of days even over long periods of time, and the fact that Easter always falls on a Sunday limits the likely number of days more than the possible number of days.
Much more rare is the earliest possible date: March 22. Easter was most recently celebrated on that date in 1818, but that won’t happen again until 2285. The latest possible date, April 25, is also exceedingly rare: The last time Easter was observed on that date was in 1943, and it won’t be again until 2038. Even more extreme is March 24, which is in the middle of a nearly five-century gap from 1940 to 2391.
Media Release/InterestingFacts
