When is Easter 2023 Scotland? Why does its date change every year? Holiday dates and weather

This year, Easter Sunday will be celebrated on April 9 which is more than a week earlier than last year’s festival.

Easter offers us a much-needed long weekend and it is an important date for followers of Christianity. Many eagerly await the bank holidays that come with Easter but it is often forgotten that each year their dates vary from the year before.

Here’s when Easter takes place in 2023, when the bank holidays are and why the date of Easter Sunday changes every year.

When is Easter 2023?

Easter Sunday (also known as Resurrection Sunday) will fall on April 9 this year.

Easter Sunday takes place on April 9 in 2023 which is over a week earlier than the one we had in 2022 which fell on April 17.

Good Friday will happen on Friday, April 7, which will act as a bank holiday throughout the UK. Easter Monday will fall on Monday, April 10, which will mark a four-day weekend for the rest of the UK but not Scotland that broadly does not claim it as a nationwide bank holiday although some councils like Edinburgh, Dundee and Falkirk reportedly do.

What will the weather be like over Easter?

Reports indicate that the weather over the traditional four-day Easter weekend, starting from Good Friday and ending on Easter Monday, is a ‘mixed bag’. Last year, Scotland enjoyed a delightful spell of warm weather over Easter before snow surprised the nation a few days later; as is typical with the Scottish weather.

On Easter Sunday it is customary to eat chocolate eggs, it is said that the eggs represent life and rebirth which is why they're an integral part of the celebration.

Easter Sunday itself will see rain hit western Scotland with light showers reaching Glasgow. However, temperatures should remain around 14C and Edinburgh will avoid the rainfall, making it the place to be for a day out.

You can read a more detailed weather forecast here for the upcoming Easter weekend.

Why does Easter’s date change every year?

Easter Sunday always falls after the first full moon following the Spring equinox and just as the dates of full moons differ by the year so to does Easter’s date.

How was the date for Easter decided?

The first major church council in 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea, were the first to decide when Easter should fall every year. Following the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus after Passover, some Christians elected to mark the occasion by celebrating it at that time in what was known as the ‘month of Nisan’ which correlates to March or April.

However, other Christians of this era chose to commemorate the event on a Sunday because it was believed that this was the day that Jesus’ tomb was discovered according to the religious studies lecturer at the University of Texas, Brent Landau.

In order to resolve the conflict the Council of Nicaea concluded that Easter should fall after the first full moon after the March equinox.