Holiday dates
When is Easter? Passover? Hanukkah? Dates and meaning for every major Christian and Jewish observance.
Christian holidays
Easter
Easter Sunday is the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It falls on the first Sunday after the f…
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent — 46 days before Easter Sunday. Christians receive ashes on their foreheads as…
Lent
Lent is the 40-day season of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving that precedes Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday and ends o…
Good Friday
Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. It is the Friday before Easter Sunday and a day of s…
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday marks Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the start of Holy Week — the final week of Lent before Easte…
Pentecost
Pentecost celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, 50 days after Easter. It is often called the birthd…
Advent
Advent is the four-week season leading up to Christmas. It is a time of preparation, reflection, and hopeful waiting for…
Christmas
Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. December 25 has been the fixed date in the Western church since the 4th …
Epiphany
Epiphany commemorates the visit of the Magi (wise men) to the infant Jesus. It closes the Christmas season on January 6.…
Jewish holidays
Hanukkah
Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is an eight-night Jewish holiday celebrating the rededication of the Second Temple in …
Passover (Pesach)
Passover (Pesach) commemorates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. It is an eight-day festival beginning…
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year — the first of the High Holy Days. It begins a 10-day period of repentance ending o…
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the Jewish year — a 25-hour fast focused on repentance and recon…
Sukkot
Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, is a seven-day harvest festival remembering the temporary shelters (sukkot) the Israel…
Shavuot
Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, seven weeks after Passover.…
Purim
Purim celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from Haman's plot, recorded in the Book of Esther.…