Easter Monday

Easter Monday is the day after Easter Sunday and is a public holiday in some countries. It is the second day of Eastertide. In Western Christianity, it is also the second day of the Octave of Easter, and in Eastern Christianity, it is also the second day of Bright Week.

Easter Monday
TypeChristian
DateDay after Easter Sunday
2020 date
  • April 13 (Western)
  • April 20 (Eastern)
2021 date
  • April 5 (Western)
  • May 3 (Eastern)
2022 date
  • April 18 (Western)
  • April 25 (Eastern)
2023 date
  • April 10 (Western)
  • April 17 (Eastern)
Easter Monday in Portugal

Religious observances

Eastern Christianity
Main article: Bright Week
Blessing with holy water during an Eastern Orthodox Bright Week procession.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church and Byzantine Rite Catholic Churches, this day is called "Bright Monday" or "Renewal Monday". The services, as in the rest of Bright Week, are quite different from during the rest of the year and are similar to the services on Pascha (Easter Sunday) and include an outdoor procession after the Divine Liturgy; while this is prescribed for all days of that week, often they are only celebrated on Monday and maybe a couple of other days in parish churches, especially in non-Orthodox countries. Also, when the calendar date of the feast day of a major saint, e.g., St. George or the patron saint of a church or one's name day, falls during Holy Week or on Easter Sunday, the saint's day is celebrated on Easter Monday.[1][2]

National observances

Australia

In Australia, Easter Monday is a public holiday.[3] Some people enjoy outdoor sporting events, such as the Oakbank Easter Racing Carnival in South Australia,[4] and the Stawell Gift in Victoria,[5] as well as a traditional AFL match between Geelong Cats and the Hawthorn Hawks at the MCG. The Australian Three Peaks Race in Tasmania until 2011.[6]

Austria
Main article: Emmausgang

In Austria and Southern Germany, there is the traditional "Emmausgang", commemorating the walk of the disciples to Emmaus, to which Jesus followed them without being recognized.

Canada

Easter Monday (French: Le Lundi de Pâques) is the Monday immediately following Easter Sunday and is a statutory holiday for federal employees. Although not mandatory by federal regulation, some employers also give this day off to employees out of common practice. Additionally, this holiday succeeds Good Friday (the Friday preceding Easter), which is a mandatory holiday for all employees, giving those workers an extra long weekend in April. In provinces where Family Day, Islander Day, or Louis Riel Day are not observed, Easter Weekend is the first provincial holiday after New Year's Day.

Central Europe
Main article: Śmigus-dyngus
Easter Monday in Poland
Easter eggs from the Czech Republic

Śmigus-dyngus (or lany poniedziałek, Polish for Wet Monday) is the name for Easter Monday in Poland and the diaspora. In the Czech Republic it is called velikonoční pondělí, in Slovakia veľkonočný pondelok and in Hungary Vízbevető. All these Catholic countries (and some others) practice the unique ancient custom on this day.[7] Traditionally, boys and men pour a bucket of water or perfume on girls and women and/or spank their buttocks and legs with long thin twigs (pussy willow) or switches made from willow, birch or decorated tree branches. A legend says that it keep women healthy, beautiful, and fertile during the whole next year.

Another related custom, unique to Poland, is that of sprinkling bowls (garce) of ashes on people or houses, celebrated a few weeks earlier at the "półpoście". This custom is almost forgotten, but still practiced in the area around the borders of Masuria and Masovia.

Egypt
Main article: Sham Ennessim

In Egypt, the ancient festival of Sham Ennessim (Arabic: شم النسيم‎, literally meaning "smelling of the breeze") is celebrated on the Coptic (i.e. Eastern) Easter Monday, though the festival dates back to Pharonic times (about 2700 BC). It is an Egyptian national holiday. Traditional activities include painting eggs, taking meals outdoors, and eating feseekh (fermented mullet).

Germany

In Germany, people go out into the fields early in the morning and hold Easter egg races.[8] For Roman Catholics, Easter Monday is also a Holy Day of Obligation in Germany.[9]

Ireland

In the Republic of Ireland it is a day of remembrance for the men and women who died in the Easter Rising which began on Easter Monday 1916. Until 1966, there was a parade of veterans, past the headquarters of the Irish Republican Army at the General Post Office (GPO) on O'Connell Street, and a reading of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic.

Spain
Traditional Easter mona

In Spain, the Easter Monday is an official public holiday in the autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Land of Valencia, Balearic Islands, Navarre, the Basque Autonomous Community, Cantabria, Castilla–La Mancha and La Rioja.[10] In Catalonia, the Land of Valencia and Murcia is typical a kind of cake called Easter mona.[11] It's usually given by godparents to their godchild and it is a tradition for families or groups of friends to gather together and to go somewhere, specially to the countryside, to eat the mona.[12]

The Netherlands

In The Netherlands Easter Monday (Tweede Paasdag) is an official public holiday.[13]

United States
Two children enjoy treats during the annual Easter egg roll at the White House lawn on Easter Monday, 1911

In the United States, Easter Monday is not a federal holiday,[14] and is generally not observed on a nationwide level, apart from a few traditions such as the White House Easter egg roll.[15] On a local level, the day is informally observed in some areas such as the state of North Dakota, and some cities in New York, Michigan, and Indiana. Easter Monday was a public holiday in North Carolina from 1935 to 1987, due to the early-20th century tradition of state government workers taking the day off to attend the annual baseball game between North Carolina State College and Wake Forest College.[16][17] Texas and Maryland schools often have two holidays on Good Friday and Easter Monday. In some states and districts, public schools and universities are closed on Easter Monday, often part of spring break.

Dyngus Day
Main article: Śmigus-dyngus

Traditionally Polish areas of the United States observe Easter Monday as Dyngus Day.[18][19] Dyngus Day celebrations are widespread and popular in Chicago; Cleveland;[20] Buffalo, New York; Wyandotte and Hamtramck in Michigan; South Bend and La Porte in Indiana; and Hanover, New Hampshire.

United Kingdom

Three of the four countries of the United Kingdom have Easter Monday as a bank holiday: England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. In Leicestershire, England, the people of Hallaton hold a bottle-kicking match and Hare Pie Scramble.[21]

See also
Liturgical year

References
  1. Part IV Archived 26 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Тvпико́нъ сіесть уста́въ (Title here transliterated into Russian; actually in Church Slavonic) (The Typicon which is the Order), Москва (Moscow, Russian Empire): Сvнодальная тvпографiя (The Synodal Printing House), 1907, p. 468
  3. http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/special-dates-and-events/public-holidays
  4. "Oakbank |". www.theracessa.com.au. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  5. "Stawell Gift – Australia's richest footrace". www.stawellgift.com. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  6. "Three Peaks Recess. 2015 Race Cancelled". Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  7. Asiedu, Dita (12 April 2004). "Easter Monday Radio Prague special". Český rozhlas 7. Radio Praha. Retrieved 9 May 2009.
  8. Easter Monday in Germany
  9. (in German) Partikularnorm Nr. 15 der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz Archived 25 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 2009-04-08.
  10. "El calendario laboral de 2020 para planificar próximos viajes". Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  11. "Twenty things you didn't know about the Mona de Pasqua". Barcelona City Council. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  12. "La mona de Pasqua". Festes.org (in Catalan).
  13. Easter Monday in The Netherlands
  14. "Federal Holidays". U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  15. "The White House Easter Egg Roll". The White House. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  18. "Dyngus Day USA". DyngusDay.com. Archived from the original on 9 April 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  19. "What is Dyngus Day?". DyngusDay.com. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  20. Heaton, Michael (22 April 2011). "Come Out Next Monday Out [sic] for Cleveland's First Annual Dingus Day". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  21. Easter Monday in the United Kingdom
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