The Easter season officially begins for many Christians and Catholics this week.
Easter falls in the first week of April this year, meaning Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season fall in February. Like Ramadan and Lunar New Year observances, the date of Easter and its related observances follow the lunar calendar, which means the date changes every year.
Here’s what date Easter 2026 will fall on, when the Easter season begins and ends, when Passover 2026 will be and why the date of Easter Sunday moves from year to year.
When is Easter Sunday 2026?
Easter Sunday will fall on April 5 in 2026. In 2025, Easter fell much later in the month, on April 20.
Eastern Orthodox Easter will fall on Sunday, April 12, 2026.
What is considered the Easter season? When does Lent start in 2026?
Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18, is the official beginning of the Easter season.
Lent is a 40-day period of fasting, prayer and repentance that many Christians and Catholics observe leading up to Easter Sunday. Many people give up something they love for those 40 days, while others choose to fast from food in different ways.
When did Lent start historically?
According to Vatican News, early Christians originally began preparing for Easter with just two days of fasting and penitence, which later turned into Holy Week.
In 325 CE, Emperor Constantine called a meeting of church leaders, called the Council of Nicaea. In the month-long meeting, the council decided on a set of agreements to guide how the church would observe, teach, and practice its beliefs about the life of Jesus Christ.
Some historical context: The Council of Nicaea – and establishment of the 40-day Lent that many Christians and Catholics still observe today – took place 13 years after Constantine converted to Christianity in 312 A.D. and 11 years before the first recorded Christian Christmas (Dec. 25, 336 A.D.).
“By 325, the Council of Nicea already testifies to a 40-day preparation for Easter, after the ‘model’ of Jesus who spent 40 days in the desert…” Vatican News says.
“Not to mention other highly significant 40-day or 40-year periods such as the flood that lasted 40 days and 40 nights, the 40-year sojourn of the people of Israel in the desert, and the 40 days in which Moses fasted on Mount Sinai, or Elijah on Mount Horeb.”
When does Lent end? Lent 2026 dates
Lent always spans 40 days, beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending at sundown on Holy Thursday.
In 2026, Lent will begin on Wednesday, Feb. 18, and end on Thursday, April 2.
What is the significance of ashes on Ash Wednesday? Ash Wednesday 2026 date
According to Vatican News, Ash Wednesday’s origins are different from why people observe the day now.
Its roots are in publicly paying penance for serious sins or crimes in the eyes of the church, like adultery or apostasy, which means renouncing the church and its beliefs. Of course, some of these crimes, like murder, were and are crimes both in and outside of a religious congregation.
“Dressed in penitential dress, and sprinkled with ashes, these penitents would circulate throughout the cities, reminders of those who are ‘thrown out of paradise,’” Vatican News says. “Toward the end of the 11th century, the practice of public penance began to fade out, and the practice of imposing ashes on the faithful took its place.”
According to Catholic.com, modern Catholics (and some Christians) who participate in Ash Wednesday now receive ashes on the forehead as a reminder of our mortality and the temporary nature of worldly things.
Ash Wednesday 2026 will be this Wednesday, Feb. 18, marking the beginning of Lent 2026 and the Easter season.
What is Good Friday celebrated for? See Good Friday 2026 date
Good Friday always falls on the Friday immediately before Easter Sunday and commemorates the day Jesus was crucified.
“For Christians, Good Friday is an important day of the year because it celebrates what we believe to be the most momentous weekend in the history of the world,” Christianity.com says.
“Ever since Jesus died and was raised, Christians have proclaimed the cross and resurrection of Jesus to be the decisive turning point for all creation.”
Good Friday 2026 will fall on April 3.
Why do Easter dates change every year?
Easter’s date changes because it is based on the lunar calendar, much like Lunar New Year. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, Easter Sunday always falls on the first full moon after the spring equinox.
“While Christmas is fixed to a solar calendar (and near the winter solstice), Easter is based on the lunar cycles of the Jewish calendar,” the almanac says.
“In the Christian religion, the Last Supper (the final meal Jesus shared with his apostles before his crucifixion) was a Passover feast. Because Easter is based on a lunar month (which is 29.5 days), the date of Easter can vary.”
When is Passover 2026? How often do Easter and Passover coincide?
Passover, or Pesach, is an eight-day Jewish holiday that commemorates the Israelites’ emancipation from slavery in ancient Egypt. And it often overlaps with Easter in Western Christianity and Catholicism.
In Exodus 12:23, Moses told the Israelites to slaughter a Passover lamb and paint its blood on their doors, to be protected from certain death. In the Torah, the Passover story is also found in the 12th chapter of Exodus.
The holiday is called “Passover,” because it commemorates when the angel of death passed over the Hebrew people who had lamb’s blood on their doors, according to the Bible and the Torah.
“The Lord protected the Israelites from death by passing over their doors and would not ‘allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down,” according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
Passover’s date is determined by the Hebrew lunisolar calendar, always beginning on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nissan. Passover 2026 will begin before sundown on Wednesday, April 1, and end after nightfall on Thursday, April 9, according to Chabad.org.
In the Christian religion, the Last Supper — the final meal Jesus shared with his apostles before his crucifixion — was a Passover feast. The Hebrew calendar uses lunar months, which also determine Easter’s date.
This is why in Western Christianity and Catholicism, Easter and Passover often overlap, as they will this year. Passover is much less likely to overlap with Eastern Orthodox Easter.
Is ‘The Prince of Egypt’ the story of Passover?
Those who didn’t grow up going to a church or temple might recognize the Passover story from the 1998 DreamWorks animated box office success “The Prince of Egypt,” which shows an adaptation of the story of Moses.
The star-studded voice cast included the late, great Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Helen Mirren, Patrick Stewart and Danny Glover.
Watch ‘The Prince of Egypt’ with Prime Video
“The Prince of Egypt” isn’t available to stream for free as of Feb. 16, 2026, but it is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: When does Lent 2026 start? See Ash Wednesday, Easter, Passover dates
Reporting by Lianna Norman, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
