Days until Easter, counted live.

The days until Easter are the calendar days from today to Easter Sunday, and the date changes every year. The countdown above works it out and counts down to the first moment of that Sunday on your clock. As a worked example, on 18 October 2026 the next Western Easter is Sunday 28 March 2027, which is 161 days away. The switch under Easter shows the Eastern date as well, which for 2027 is Sunday 2 May.

How to use the Easter countdown

1. Under Easter, choose Western (Catholic and Protestant) or Eastern (Orthodox, Julian tables).
2. Read the big number for the calendar days left, and the boxes for the exact time.
3. Under Time zone, keep your own zone or pick another place.
4. Look at the cards for the other church's date, Good Friday and the day after Easter, and at the table for eleven years of both dates.
5. Press Full screen, Copy link or Copy result to share it.

How the date of Easter is set

The rule, as the US Naval Observatory page on the date of Easter gives it (checked 18 Oct 2026): the vernal equinox is taken to be on March 21, the ecclesiastical full moon is the 14th day of a tabular lunation, and Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon on or after March 21. The moon is a table moon, not the one in the sky, which is why Easter can differ from the astronomical full moon. By this rule Easter can never be before March 22 or later than April 25.

Western and Eastern Easter

The same page says the Western churches use the Gregorian tables, while many Eastern churches use older tables based on the Julian calendar, so the civil date of Easter depends on which tables are used. It adds that a 1923 congress of the Eastern churches adopted a modified Gregorian calendar and set Easter by the astronomical full moon at Jerusalem, and that a variety of practices remain. This page follows the Julian tables for Eastern, and moves the result to the civil calendar, 13 days later in this century. Not every Eastern church follows it, so check with yours.

The two dates are the same in 2028, 2031 and 2034, a week apart in 2026, 2029, 2030, 2033 and 2036, and 35 days apart in 2027, 2032 and 2035. In this century the Eastern date by these tables is always between 4 April and 8 May.

A worked example for 2026

For the Western date, the Gregorian rule gives Sunday 5 April 2026. For the Eastern date, the Julian rule gives Sunday 30 March on the Julian calendar, which is Sunday 12 April on the civil calendar, 13 days later. Both are Sundays, and the Eastern one is 7 days after the Western one.

Good Friday and the weekend

Good Friday is two days before Easter Sunday, and the Monday after it is the day after Easter. The cards show both dates. The count cannot tell you which days are public holidays where you live.

Weekdays and weekend days left

The cards split the days before Easter into weekdays and weekend days, counting today. They help you see how much time you have to plan a trip or a meal. Shop hours and school dates are not part of the count, so check those yourself.

Easter week in 2027

For the Western date in 2027, Good Friday is on 26 March, Easter Sunday on 28 March and the Monday after on 29 March. The Eastern date is 35 days later, on 2 May, so from 18 October 2026 the Western Easter is 161 days away and the Eastern one is 196 days away. The page changes every number when you move the switch.

Why the hours can shift by one

The count runs to midnight on the clock of the zone you choose. If the clocks in that place change between now and then, the exact hours left change by one, while the days by the calendar stay the same. This page uses your browser's time zone data for that.

Common problems

• A different date from another site. Check the switch. A site that shows 12 April 2026 is showing the Eastern date.
• The page says Today. It is Easter Sunday where you are. It then counts to the next one.
• Wrong zone. The page uses your device's time zone unless you pick another.

To count to a different date, use the countdown to date. The next big date after Easter is Christmas.