Easter Monday

Easter Monday is the next day of Easter, so the date is variable. In 2015, it is Monday, April 6, and in 2016 it will be on March 28.

Easter runs from the first centuries, all throughout the week following the Sunday of the Resurrection. This week has the name of Easter Week or Octave of Easter in the West, Radiant Week or Week of the Renewal in the East.

This week was a public holiday in some countries and at certain times. In France, since the concordat, only the Easter Monday holiday remained. Currently, Easter Monday is a public holiday in all European countries except Russia, Portugal and most of Spain.

Liturgical and religious significance

Easter Monday is the second day of the octave of Easter.

• In the new Liturgical Ordo of Paul VI, the octave of Easter was kept.

• In the Byzantine rite, a sign of joy, offices are abbreviated and simplified.

The liturgical day begins with radiant Monday Vespers sung on Sunday and Sunday night during which, in Orthodox churches, the Gospel (Jn 20: 19-25) is read in the largest possible number of former and current languages.

After seven painful and dramatic days of the Passion of Christ (Holy Week), the day of Resurrection, the first day of a new week, inaugurates a new era of peace and joy. It is an “eighth day” intended to last a week of seven Sundays and prefigure a peaceful and radiant eternity.

Folk customs for Easter Monday

In some countries, Easter Monday still gives rise to folk customs.

• In Poland, Easter Monday known as the “Śmigus dyngus” (Wet Monday), the Poles splash with water. Water is a symbol of life. Family and friends pour water over each other. Old men threw water on Women. Tuesday, they could take their revenge. That day, the Poles also sprinkled the holy water fields.

• In Hungary, boys sprinkle girls with fragrance. This brings luck. Girls should reward the boys by giving them money or Easter eggs.

• In England the custom for Monday and Tuesday of Easter is called “lifting” or “headline“. Young people go from house to house carrying a chair decorated with flowers. When a girl is sitting on the chair, they raise into the air three times. Be raised in this way should bring luck to the girl. She thanks the boy by giving him money or kissing. The next day it is the turn of the girls to raise boys in the chair.

• In Italy, Easter Monday is called “Pasquetta“. It is customary to prepare a picnic in the countryside with family and this is the opportunity to eat eggs that have been decorated the day before.

• In the south of France, it is (was) customary to make a big picnic with family and friends on Easter Monday at noon with the main course a great omelet, made with Easter eggs. This tradition is called “Easter omelette” or “Paquette“.