Easter Egg

Easter 1980

Easter 1980: Sunday, April 6

In 1980 Easter falls on Sunday, April 6, 1980 for Western and Orthodox churches alike: the Gregorian and the Julian reckoning arrive at the same Sunday.

Western Easter

Sunday, April 6, 1980

Gregorian computus. Golden number 5, epact 13, Paschal full moon March 31.

Orthodox Easter

Sunday, April 6, 1980

Julian computus: March 24 in the Julian calendar, plus 13 days to reach the Gregorian calendar.

Both Easters fall on April 6 in 1980. They last fell on the same day in 1977 (April 10). They next fall on the same day in 1984 (April 22).

Western · Apr 6
Orthodox · Apr 6
MarchAprilMay
March 1 to May 31, 1980; each line is a Sunday. Upper band: the dates Western Easter can take, March 22 to April 25. Lower band: the dates Orthodox Easter can take in 1980, April 4 to May 8 (Julian March 22 to April 25, plus 13 days). Western Easter: April 6. Orthodox Easter: April 6.

The moving feasts of 1980

Western feasts, 1980

FeastDateFrom Easter
Shrove TuesdayTuesday, February 19, 1980−47 days
Ash WednesdayWednesday, February 20, 1980−46 days
Palm SundaySunday, March 30, 1980−7 days
Maundy ThursdayThursday, April 3, 1980−3 days
Good FridayFriday, April 4, 1980−2 days
Holy SaturdaySaturday, April 5, 1980−1 day
Easter SundaySunday, April 6, 1980Easter Sunday
Easter MondayMonday, April 7, 1980+1 day
Ascension DayThursday, May 15, 1980+39 days
PentecostSunday, May 25, 1980+49 days

Orthodox feasts, 1980

FeastDateFrom Easter
Clean MondayMonday, February 18, 1980−48 days
Palm SundaySunday, March 30, 1980−7 days
Great and Holy FridayFriday, April 4, 1980−2 days
Pascha (Easter Sunday)Sunday, April 6, 1980Easter Sunday
AscensionThursday, May 15, 1980+39 days
PentecostSunday, May 25, 1980+49 days

Each date is Easter Sunday plus or minus a fixed number of days; the offsets and their sources are on the about page. Observance varies by church and by country. Whether a feast is a day off work is a matter of each country’s law.

How early is Easter in 1980?

April 6 is date 16 of the 35 that Western Easter can take, March 22 to April 25: 15 days after the earliest possible date and 19 days before the latest. Of the 201 Easters from 1900 to 2100, 78 fall on an earlier date than this one and 116 fall on a later date. 6 other years in that span share the date: 1947, 1958, 1969, 2042, 2053, 2064. Before 1980, Western Easter last fell on April 6 in 1969; after 1980 it next does in 2042.

Orthodox Easter on April 6 is March 24 in the Julian calendar; 13 days carry it to the Gregorian calendar in 1980. From 1900 to 2100 Orthodox Easter falls on an earlier Gregorian date in 6 years and on a later one in 194 years; no other year shares the date.

The earliest and latest Easters from 1900 to 2100, with how often each date occurs, are on their own page.

The arithmetic for 1980

5Golden number: the year’s place in the 19-year cycle of the moon, (1980 mod 19) + 1.
13Gregorian epact: the age of the reckoned moon at the start of the year.
March 31Paschal full moon of the Gregorian reckoning, a Monday. Easter is the Sunday after it.
April 4Paschal full moon of the Julian reckoning in Gregorian dates (Julian March 22), a Friday.

The two algorithms, worked for 1980

Western: the Anonymous Gregorian algorithm
a=4 b=19 c=80 d=4 e=3 f=1 g=6 h=10 i=20 k=0 l=5 m=0
h + l − 7m + 114 = 129, and 129 ÷ 31 = 4 remainder 5: month 4, day 5 + 1. April 6
Orthodox: Meeus’s Julian algorithm
a=0 b=6 c=4 d=1 e=1
d + e + 114 = 116, and 116 ÷ 31 = 3 remainder 23: Julian March 24. Plus 13 days: April 6

How the date of Easter is calculated explains each letter. The dates on this page agree with the US Census Bureau table (Western), the 5ko.free.fr tables (Western and Orthodox), each read September 28, 2026.