The Moveable French Holidays Tied to Easter
Updated: May 2026
Most French public holidays sit on a fixed calendar date, but three slide around every year: Easter Monday, Ascension and Whit Monday. They all derive from Easter Sunday, which is itself a moveable feast.
Need the exact dates? The calculator derives them for any year.
Open the holiday calendar →How Easter is calculated
Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon on or after 21 March. Because it combines a solar date with a lunar cycle, it can fall anywhere from 22 March to 25 April. The Gregorian "computus" algorithm — also called the Anonymous Gregorian or Meeus/Jones/Butcher algorithm — turns a year into the exact Easter date, and that is what an automatic calendar uses instead of a lookup table.
The three holidays counted from Easter
- Easter Monday (Lundi de Pâques) — Easter Sunday + 1 day. Always a Monday, so it always extends the Easter weekend.
- Ascension Day (Ascension) — Easter Sunday + 39 days. Always a Thursday, which makes it the most popular bridge-day holiday of the year.
- Whit Monday (Lundi de Pentecôte) — Easter Sunday + 50 days. Always a Monday, and the reference day for the "journée de solidarité" in many agreements.
Dates for the coming years
| Year | Easter Sunday | Easter Monday | Ascension | Whit Monday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 5 Apr | 6 Apr | 14 May | 25 May |
| 2027 | 28 Mar | 29 Mar | 6 May | 17 May |
| 2028 | 16 Apr | 17 Apr | 25 May | 5 Jun |
| 2029 | 1 Apr | 2 Apr | 10 May | 21 May |
Why it matters for planning
Because these three holidays move, a hard-coded yearly list quickly becomes wrong. Payroll systems, HR calendars and project schedules need to recompute them each year. The spring cluster — Ascension and Whit Monday only eleven days apart — also concentrates a lot of time off into May, which is worth anticipating for staffing and deliveries.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ascension always on a Thursday?
Yes. It is always 39 days after Easter Sunday, which is always a Sunday, so Ascension always lands on a Thursday — ideal for a four-day weekend.
What is the earliest Easter can be?
22 March is the earliest possible date and 25 April the latest, a 35-day window driven by the lunar calendar.
Does Good Friday count in France?
Not nationally. Good Friday is a public holiday only in the Alsace-Moselle departments.