Easter Monday 2024

What is Easter Monday?

Easter Monday is the day after Easter Sunday and the second day of the Easter festival. In most of Western and Central Europe it is a public holiday, and it creates a four-day weekend with Good Friday. The day is also observed in some Orthodox countries, such as Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Serbia, Georgia and North Macedonia, where it follows the Orthodox date, and in the Eastern churches it is called Bright Monday. In some places, such as Poland and Slovakia, the day has a name of its own that refers to the sprinkling traditions of the day.

For most people the holiday is less about church services than about family visits, walks, picnics and meals. In Lutheran churches the Gospel of the day is the walk to Emmaus, and in Austria the Emmausgang commemorates it. Many countries have folk customs of their own, such as the egg-rolling and egg-hunt traditions of Britain and Germany, or the sprinkling and whipping customs of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, in which boys and men pour water or perfume on girls and women or strike their legs with willow twigs. Regional customs vary a lot, so the same date can look quite different depending on where it is celebrated.

Why it is observed

The celebration of Easter has long extended beyond a single day. In the early church the whole of the Easter week, called the Octave, was a continuous festival during which newly baptised Christians wore white. In medieval Europe the days after Easter were widely kept as days of rest, and over the centuries the Monday became the standard second holiday, written into the legal calendars of many states. In England, Easter Monday was one of the bank holidays created by the Bank Holidays Act of 1871; today it is a bank holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland but not an official public holiday in Scotland.

How the date is set

Easter Monday is the day after Easter Sunday. Western churches reckon Easter on the Gregorian calendar, so Easter Monday falls between 23 March and 26 April; Orthodox countries that observe the day follow the Julian calculation, which currently puts it between 5 April and 9 May in the civil calendar.

How it is observed

On Easter Monday banks, public offices, schools and most shops are closed in the countries that observe it, and public transport runs a holiday timetable. Popular attractions, restaurants and parks are often busy. Where Orthodox Easter applies, the date can be several weeks after the Western date; in 2027 Western Easter Monday is 29 March and Orthodox Easter Monday 3 May, so check the date for the country you are visiting. Entitlement to extra pay or a substitute day when working on the holiday depends on the country, the sector and the individual contract. Visitors may also find that museums and attractions have shorter hours.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Easter Monday
• Wikipedia: Bright Week
• Wikipedia: Date of Easter