The 2026 Easter season officially began one month ago, with the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18. If you’re fasting for Lent, you only have two more weeks to go before it ends on Holy Thursday.
Like Ramadan, Passover and Lunar New Year observances, the date of Easter and its related observances follow the lunar calendar, so it changes every year. And Easter falls a few weeks earlier in April 2026 than it did last year.
Here’s what date Easter 2026 will fall on, when Lent ends, when Passover 2026 will be and why the dates of Easter observances change from year to year.
When is Easter in 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.
When does Lent end? Lent 2026 dates
Lent, which began 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.
Lent ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. In 2026, Lent will end on Thursday, April 2.
Why is Lent celebrated, observed? See origins, history
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 monthlong 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.”
What, when is Good Friday? See 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 falls on April 3.
Why does Easter 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? Is there a connection between Passover and Easter?
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 Treasure Coast Newspapers: When does Lent end? What to know about Easter, Lent and Passover 2026
Reporting by Lianna Norman, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Treasure Coast Newspapers
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
