Moveable feast (observance practice)

This article is about Christian holy days. For the book by Ernest Hemingway, see A Moveable Feast.

In Christianity, a moveable feast or movable feast is an observance in a liturgical calendar that occurs on different dates (relative to the dominant civil or solar calendar) in different years. The most important set of moveable feasts are a fixed number of days before or after Easter Sunday, which varies by over 40 days since it depends partly on the phase of the moon. In Eastern Christianity, these moveable feasts form what is called the Paschal cycle.

Most other feast days, such as those of particular saints, are fixed feasts, held on the same date every year. However, some observances are always held on the same day of the week, and thus occur on a range of days without depending on the date of Easter. For example, the start of Advent is the Sunday nearest November 30. In addition, the observance of some fixed feasts may move a few days in a particular year to not clash with that year's date for a more important moveable feast.

Moveable feasts in Christianity

Further information: Liturgical year

Further information: Movable Eastern Christian Observances

Further information: Movable Western Christian Observances

External links

• A table of moveable feasts with dates, published by the Church of England.
• "Why Some Feasts Are Moveable", a Slate article
• "How the dates of moveable feasts are calculated, then and now", translated from the Latin by Michael Deckers.