Is it a day off?
A public holiday in some regions of Spain only: Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias, Cantabria, Ceuta, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Canarias, Extremadura, Galicia, Islas Baleares, Murcia, Madrid, Melilla, Navarra, País Vasco, La Rioja.
In 2024 it falls on a Thursday, a working day.
The date changes from year to year.
Saturday and Sunday · A public holiday does not always close every business. Essential services, shops and some industries keep working, and pay rules differ by country and contract.
Maundy Thursday
Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper, at which Jesus shared a final meal with his disciples before his arrest. In Christian tradition it is the day on which he washed his disciples' feet and instituted the Eucharist. It opens the Easter Triduum, the three days of the Passion, burial and resurrection of Jesus, and in the Catholic Church the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper is the first liturgy of the Triduum. The Thursday is part of the Holy Triduum in Western churches, and in Orthodox churches it is Great and Holy Thursday, which also commemorates the Last Supper and includes a long service of twelve Gospel readings in the evening.
The word Maundy is generally traced to the Latin word mandatum, meaning commandment, from the words in John's Gospel in which Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment to love one another. Customs include the washing of feet by bishops and priests, the stripping of altars, the silencing of church bells, which in Catholic countries are said to fly to Rome, and in Britain the royal Maundy ceremony, in which the monarch gives specially minted coins to elderly people. In Orthodox churches, eggs are traditionally dyed red on this day in many countries, and the first Easter breads are baked.
Maundy Thursday: all countries
Dates by year
- 2024: Thursday, 28 March 2024
- 2025: Thursday, 17 April 2025
- 2026: Thursday, 2 April 2026
- 2027: Thursday, 25 March 2027
- 2028: Thursday, 13 April 2028
- 2029: Thursday, 29 March 2029
- 2030: Thursday, 18 April 2030
- 2031: Thursday, 10 April 2031
- 2032: Thursday, 25 March 2032
- 2033: Thursday, 14 April 2033
- 2034: Thursday, 6 April 2034
- 2035: Thursday, 22 March 2035
Where it applies
Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias, Cantabria, Ceuta, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Canarias, Extremadura, Galicia, Islas Baleares, Murcia, Madrid, Melilla, Navarra, País Vasco, La Rioja