When Is Easter 2024?

Whether for a religious celebration or a love of marshmallow peeps, Easter is celebrated worldwide when spring rolls around. This Christian feast day is typically marked with quite a bit of food, from elaborate quiches to carved ham. But before you can start planning your technicolor egg dyes and scrumptious breakfast spread, it's important to know when the holiday actually falls. This year, Easter falls on Sunday, March 31.

However, unlike static dates such as Christmas and New Year's Eve, Easter is celebrated on a different day each year, in either March or April. This distinction is driven by a factor far removed from chocolate bunnies and bright pastels: the moon. That's right — Earth's orbiting body dictates when we break out the Easter egg hunts and celebrate with friends and family. Let's take a deep dive into why exactly this day moves and then check out which treats should be on your radar for Easter 2024.

To calculate the day of Easter, you'll have to look to the heavens. According to the Royal Museums Greenwich, Easter always falls on "the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox." This will always happen between March 22 and April 25. According to Christian tradition, these dates roughly align with Jesus' resurrection, the religious reason for the holiday.

This simple rule of thumb actually obscures a bit of complexity. As it turns out, the basic spring equinox definition is not exactly correct. On our calendars, the spring equinox is always March 21. However, due to variations in the Earth's elliptical orbit and minor inaccuracies in our modern calendar, the astronomical spring equinox doesn't always fall on March 21. Under certain circumstances, the difference between the calendar equinox and the actual equinox might predict two different Easters. To keep calculations straightforward, the Church uses March 21 as a fixed date for the spring equinox.

To complicate things even further, Orthodox Christians use a different calendar to track religious holidays. They use the Julian calendar (a previous version of the modern Gregorian calendar), which marks yet another day for the spring equinox. In turn, Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter on a different day. This year, Orthodox Easter falls on Sunday, May 5.

Regardless of the day, Easter maintains a strong association with food. While rabbit-shaped confections are a classic treat, there are plenty of Easter desserts better than chocolate bunnies. If you're looking for something that pairs well with a hearty brunch, try a bread pudding. Like french toast, this sweet treat can be served right alongside breakfast. If you do want to lean into the bunny-themed festivities, a carrot cake is a great choice. Sweeter than a bread pudding and covered in mouth-watering cream cheese frosting, this is a great post-meal dessert option for large holiday gatherings.

Many families eat ham on Easter. If you're a fan of savory offerings, then this traditional Easter dish should check all the boxes. Easter hams often have a sweet glaze, but can also be salty or even smoked. They are usually baked before being transferred to a platter and sliced into thin pieces. These hunks of meat are large enough to feed a big celebration and will look fantastic as the centerpiece of a fully decorated holiday dining table.