Easter Monday in the United Kingdom 2027

A bank holiday in three of the four UK nations

Easter Monday is the Monday immediatly after Easter Sunday and one of the oldest official holidays in the United Kingdom. It is a bank holiday — the British term for a public holiday, comparable to a US federal holiday — in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland is the exception: Easter Monday is not a bank holiday there, and Scottish banks and offices generally treat it as a normal working day. Combined with Good Friday, the holiday gives workers in the observing nations a four-day Easter weekend, somthing American workers never get, since Easter Monday is not a holiday anywhere in the United States.

Why the date moves every year

Easter Monday follows Easter Sunday, a movable feast. In the Western churches, Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after March 21, which places Easter Monday anywhere from late March to late April! There is no substitute-day rule, because the holiday always lands on a Monday by definision.

From church festival to St Lubbock's Day

The Monday after Easter was a customary day of rest and games in England for centuries, part of the older Easter Week festivities. Its modern legal status dates to the Bank Holidays Act 1871, promoted by the banker and Liberal member of Parliament Sir John Lubbock. The Act named Easter Monday among the first statutory bank holidays for England, Wales and Ireland, and greatful Victorians briefly nicknamed the new days off "St Lubbock's Days." The Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, which replaced the Victorian law, kept Easter Monday for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland, which had its own list centered on New Year's Day and Good Friday, never adopted it.

How Easter Monday is spent today

Easter Monday is a relaxed family day rather than a religious one; the major church services happen on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Traditional entertainments include egg rolling, in which children race decorated hard-boiled eggs down grassy hills, a custom shared with the White House Easter Egg Roll held the same day in Washington - horse racing is another fixture, and soccer leagues traditionally schedule a full slate of Easter fixtures. Many families use the long weekend for the first trip of spring, so highways, trains and airports are crowded.

Banks, post offices, schools and government offices close in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and there is no regular mail delivery. Most large stores open with reduced hours, a contrast with Easter Sunday, when trading laws force large shops in England and Wales to close entirely. The London Stock Exchange closes, while US markets, which shut for Good Friday, reopen on Easter Monday.

Regional differences

In Scotland, banks and offices work normally, although many Scottish schools take a spring break around Easter and some local authorities observe their own spring holidays. In Northern Ireland, Easter Tuesday is an additional public-sector holiday for some workers. Ireland, the UK's neighbor, also keeps Easter Monday as a public holiday, where it additionally commemorates the 1916 Easter Rising.