Easter 2025, 2026 and 2027
Easter has been celebrated in Estonia since the 13th Century, when the Teutonic Knights first introduced Christianity to the region, and both Easter Sunday and Good Friday are still public holidays in Estonia to this day.
Year | Date | Day | Holiday |
---|---|---|---|
2025 | 18 Apr | Fri | Good Friday |
20 Apr | Sun | Easter Sunday | |
2026 | 3 Apr | Fri | Good Friday |
5 Apr | Sun | Easter Sunday | |
2027 | 26 Mar | Fri | Good Friday |
28 Mar | Sun | Easter Sunday | |
Please scroll down to end of page for previous years' dates. |
Today Estonia is also one of the most secular countries on the planet, 75 percent of its people considering themselves non-religious. However, there are still those who attend Good Friday and Easter Sunday church services in Estonia. About a sixth of Estonians, mostly its Russian population, are Eastern Orthodox, and about a tenth, mostly ethnic Estonians, are Lutheran.
To most, however, Easter is almost purely secular. Greeting cards will often be sent, and they will feature springtime flowers and Easter eggs more than crosses and empty tombs. The Easter Bunny has also become popular in recent years, and much focus will be on decorating homes with pussy willows and grass-growing pots to remind of the arrival of new life and warmer weather. Cleaning out the house after the long, cold winter is also an important seasonal ritual.
One unique Estonian tradition is that of swinging on large, wooden swings, sometimes built for the very occasion, on Easter Sunday. They are located in city centres and public places and consist of towering support beams, a long, arched bridge-like swinging platform, and “handle bars.” You swing standing up, holding onto the handle bars, with your back facing outwards. For this reason, Easter in Estonia is called “Swing Holiday” as often as “Spring Holiday.”
The biggest events in Estonian Easters, however, are all about the eggs. Egg sales soar to quadruple the usual rate, and another name for Easter is “Munadepuha” (egg holiday). There is egg painting with natural dyes from beets or onion skins, eating eggs for Easter lunch, hunting for eggs, exchanging eggs as gifts, and playing egg games. One game has you knock your Easter egg against an opponent’s, and another has the eggs rolling down a sandy ramp to strike other eggs. Either way, the person’s whose egg cracks first loses, and the winner gets to eat the loser’s egg.
Previous Years
Year | Date | Day | Holiday |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | 29 Mar | Fri | Good Friday |
31 Mar | Sun | Easter Sunday | |
2023 | 7 Apr | Fri | Good Friday |
9 Apr | Sun | Easter Sunday |