When is Easter 2024? What to know about the holy day and why it's coming early this year

Jana Hayes, The Oklahoman
Updated ·1 min read

As springtime moves in, so does a holy day for many.

Millions of Christians will celebrate Easter Sunday this month, after the 40-day period (not including Sundays) known as Lent. Many others will join in celebrating the holiday with Easter egg hunts.

Easter falls on a different day each year and is coming a little early in 2024.

Here's what to know about when Easter is this year, how the date is chosen and why it's celebrated.

An Easter Cross is pictured during the Fifth Street Baptist Church's "Pull Up and Praise" Easter service at the parking lot of Millwood High School in Oklahoma City, Sunday, April 4, 2021.
An Easter Cross is pictured during the Fifth Street Baptist Church's "Pull Up and Praise" Easter service at the parking lot of Millwood High School in Oklahoma City, Sunday, April 4, 2021.

When is Easter Sunday 2024?

Easter Sunday falls on Sunday, March 31 this year.

Why is Easter in March this year?

While the holiday always falls on a Sunday, Easter usually occurs in April. This year, it falls in March for the first time since 2016.

According to the Farmers Almanac, the most common dates Easter occurred or will occur between 1600 and 2099 is March 31 or April 16.

Easter Sunday always occurs on the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon, or the first Sunday following the full Moon that occurs on or after the March or spring equinox.

Why do we celebrate Easter?

Families wait for the egg hunt during Easter on the Prairie at Mollie Spencer Farm in Yukon, Okla., on Saturday, April 8, 2023.
Families wait for the egg hunt during Easter on the Prairie at Mollie Spencer Farm in Yukon, Okla., on Saturday, April 8, 2023.

Easter, also called Pascha or Resurrection Sunday, is the holiest day in the Christian calendar. It's a celebration of the most central tenet of the Christian faith — that Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead.

Millions of Christians celebrate the day with church services and prayer.

But Christians aren't the only ones celebrating on that day — others participate in dying brightly colored eggs, filling plastic eggs with candy and hunting the eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny.

Many Christians see the eggs as a symbol of Jesus emerging from the tomb, while others see it as a symbol of the regeneration that comes with springtime.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: When is Easter 2024? Why is it so early this year?