ObservanceSunday, March 28, 2027
Easter Sunday
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Easter Sunday is the central feast of the Christian year, marking the resurrection of Jesus, and it is the one major American holiday whose date is computed rather than looked up: it can land anywhere from March 22 to April 25. Much of the folklore attached to it, including the story about a pagan goddess named Eostre and her sacred hare, does not survive a look at the sources.
History
The date comes from a rule, and the rule is the interesting part. The First Council of Nicaea, convened by Constantine in 325, resolved to keep Easter on the same Sunday throughout the Christian world and had tables built to compute it; the version that became standard came from the sixth-century monk Dionysius Exiguus. Those tables are ecclesiastical, not astronomical: the vernal equinox is fixed at March 21 regardless of where the sun actually is, and the ecclesiastical full moon is the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation. Easter is the Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon falling on or after that fixed equinox, which is why it can come no earlier than March 22 and no later than April 25. Nicaea did its work under the Julian calendar; the reform Gregory XIII issued in 1582, in the bull Inter gravissimas, came with new Easter tables that Western churches adopted and many Eastern Orthodox churches did not. That, and not a dispute about the holiday, is why the two Easters usually fall on different days.
The holiday's American furniture arrived separately from its theology. The Easter hare is German: the first clear reference is Georg Franck von Franckenau's De ovis paschalibus in 1682, which reports that German-speaking regions called the eggs hare's eggs, from a story that the Easter Hare laid them in gardens. It reached Pennsylvania with German immigrants: the fraktur artist Johann Conrad Gilbert, who emigrated in 1757, drew hares with Easter eggs. The phrase "Easter Bunny" does not appear in American newspapers until 1883. That any of this descends from a pagan fertility goddess is not supported. Bede, in the eighth century, is the only ancient source to name Eostre at all, and he connects her to nothing but an April month name. The goddess Ostara was Jacob Grimm's conjecture in 1835, and the hare was attached to her by Adolf Holtzmann in 1874 to explain a custom that already existed.
The one Easter tradition with a documented American origin is the White House Easter Egg Roll. Children had rolled eggs on the Capitol's west grounds through the 1870s until an act to protect the turf and grass of the Capitol Grounds became law on April 29, 1876. Two years later President Rutherford B. Hayes opened the White House South Lawn to them instead, and it has been held on Easter Monday ever since, apart from the war years and the Truman renovation.
Timeline
- 325 — The First Council of Nicaea, convened by Constantine, resolves to keep Easter on one Sunday across the Christian world and has tables built to compute it.
- 1582 — Gregory XIII's reform, in the bull Inter gravissimas, produces new Easter tables; Western churches adopt them, many Eastern churches do not.
- 1682 — Franckenau's De ovis paschalibus gives the first clear reference to the German Easter Hare laying eggs in gardens.
- April 29, 1876 — An act protecting the turf and grass of the Capitol Grounds becomes law, ending egg rolling there.
- 1878 — President Rutherford B. Hayes opens the White House South Lawn to egg rollers.
How to observe
Look the date up rather than trusting memory: the U.S. Naval Observatory publishes computed dates for Easter and other Christian observances years ahead, alongside its explanation of the rule behind them.
If you are in Washington that week, note the day: the Egg Roll is Easter Monday, not Easter Sunday.
And if you like your traditions documented, the Library of Congress's American Folklife Center has traced the Easter Bunny through fraktur drawings, nineteenth-century Pennsylvania German accounts and digitized newspapers. It will permanently spoil the pagan-goddess story for you.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Easter move every year?
Because the date is computed rather than fixed. Easter is the Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon falling on or after March 21, which the church calendar treats as the vernal equinox whatever the sun is doing. That puts it between March 22 and April 25.
Why is Orthodox Easter on a different day?
The rule is the same; the tables are not. Western churches use the tables issued with the Gregorian reform of 1582, many Eastern Orthodox churches tables based on the older Julian calendar.
Is Easter a federal holiday?
No. Federal holidays are set by law, under 5 U.S.C. 6103, and neither Easter nor Good Friday is on it. Easter falls on a Sunday anyway, so the practical question is Good Friday and Easter Monday, which some states and employers observe and the federal government does not.
Did Easter take its name from a pagan goddess?
Very little supports the story as it is usually told. Bede is the only ancient writer to mention Eostre, and he links her only to an April month name. The fertility goddess with a sacred hare is a nineteenth-century reconstruction.
Is the White House Easter Egg Roll on Easter Sunday?
No, Easter Monday. It began in 1878, two years after Congress closed the Capitol grounds to egg rollers.
When is Easter Sunday?
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | March 28 | Sunday |
| 2028 | April 16 | Sunday |
| 2029 | April 1 | Sunday |
| 2030 | April 21 | Sunday |
| 2031 | April 13 | Sunday |
Sources
- U.S. Naval Observatory, Astronomical Applications Department, The Date of Easter — https://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/easter → the First Council of Nicaea in 325 under Constantine and its Easter tables; Dionysius Exiguus; the equinox fixed at March 21; the ecclesiastical full moon as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation; the March 22 to April 25 range; the 1582 Gregorian reform and the bull Inter gravissimas; Western versus Eastern Orthodox tables as the reason the dates differ.
- U.S. Naval Observatory, Selected Christian Observances — https://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/christian_observances → computed future dates for Easter and related observances.
- Library of Congress, On the Bunny Trail: In Search of the Easter Bunny, Folklife Today — https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2016/03/easter-bunny/ → Franckenau's De ovis paschalibus (1682) and "hare's eggs"; Bede as the only ancient source naming Eostre, with no hare or fertility element; Jacob Grimm's 1835 Ostara conjecture; Adolf Holtzmann's 1874 hare-Ostara link; Johann Conrad Gilbert's fraktur hares and his 1757 emigration; "Easter Bunny" first appearing in print in 1883.
- Library of Congress, Congress's Role in the Creation of the White House Easter Egg Roll, In Custodia Legis — https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2025/04/congresss-role-in-the-creation-of-the-white-house-easter-egg-roll/ → egg rolling on the Capitol grounds; the act to protect the public property, turf and grass of the Capitol Grounds from injury becoming law on April 29, 1876; Hayes opening the White House lawn in 1878.
- White House Historical Association, History of the White House Easter Egg Roll — https://www.whitehousehistory.org/press-room/press-backgrounders/history-of-the-white-house-easter-egg-roll → the Capitol west grounds origin in the 1870s; the first White House roll in 1878 under Hayes; the event held on Easter Monday; the World War I and Truman-era interruptions (1946-47 food conservation, 1948-52 South Lawn renovation).
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Federal Holidays — https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays/ → the federal holidays established by 5 U.S.C. 6103, a list that includes neither Easter nor Good Friday.
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