Western Easter
Sunday, April 9, 1939
Gregorian computus. Golden number 2, epact 10, Paschal full moon April 3.
Easter 1939
Easter 1939: Sunday, April 9
In 1939 Easter falls on Sunday, April 9, 1939 for Western and Orthodox churches alike: the Gregorian and the Julian reckoning arrive at the same Sunday.
Orthodox Easter
Sunday, April 9, 1939
Julian computus: March 27 in the Julian calendar, plus 13 days to reach the Gregorian calendar.
Both Easters fall on April 9 in 1939. They last fell on the same day in 1936 (April 12). They next fall on the same day in 1942 (April 5).
Western · Apr 9
Orthodox · Apr 9
MarchAprilMayThe moving feasts of 1939
Western feasts, 1939
| Feast | Date | From Easter |
|---|---|---|
| Shrove Tuesday | Tuesday, February 21, 1939 | −47 days |
| Ash Wednesday | Wednesday, February 22, 1939 | −46 days |
| Palm Sunday | Sunday, April 2, 1939 | −7 days |
| Maundy Thursday | Thursday, April 6, 1939 | −3 days |
| Good Friday | Friday, April 7, 1939 | −2 days |
| Holy Saturday | Saturday, April 8, 1939 | −1 day |
| Easter Sunday | Sunday, April 9, 1939 | Easter Sunday |
| Easter Monday | Monday, April 10, 1939 | +1 day |
| Ascension Day | Thursday, May 18, 1939 | +39 days |
| Pentecost | Sunday, May 28, 1939 | +49 days |
Orthodox feasts, 1939
| Feast | Date | From Easter |
|---|---|---|
| Clean Monday | Monday, February 20, 1939 | −48 days |
| Palm Sunday | Sunday, April 2, 1939 | −7 days |
| Great and Holy Friday | Friday, April 7, 1939 | −2 days |
| Pascha (Easter Sunday) | Sunday, April 9, 1939 | Easter Sunday |
| Ascension | Thursday, May 18, 1939 | +39 days |
| Pentecost | Sunday, May 28, 1939 | +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: Holidays lists each country’s public holidays, off the open Nager.Date database.
How early is Easter in 1939?
April 9 is date 19 of the 35 that Western Easter can take, March 22 to April 25: 18 days after the earliest possible date and 16 days before the latest. Of the 201 Easters from 1900 to 2100, 96 fall on an earlier date than this one and 99 fall on a later date. 5 other years in that span share the date: 1944, 1950, 2023, 2034, 2045. Before 1939, Western Easter last fell on April 9 in 1882; after 1939 it next does in 1944.
In the 1930s Western Easter ran from March 27 (1932) to April 21 (1935); 1939’s April 9 is the fifth-earliest of the ten. Across the twentieth century (1901–2000) Western Easter falls on April 9 in 3 years, and the Western and Orthodox Easters share a Sunday in 26 years.
Orthodox Easter on April 9 is March 27 in the Julian calendar; 13 days carry it to the Gregorian calendar in 1939. From 1900 to 2100 Orthodox Easter falls on an earlier Gregorian date in 17 years and on a later one in 177 years; it falls on the same date in 1950, 1961, 1972, 2034, 2045, 2056.
The earliest and latest Easters from 1900 to 2100, with how often each date occurs, are on their own page.
The arithmetic for 1939
2Golden number: the year’s place in the 19-year cycle of the moon, (1939 mod 19) + 1.
10Gregorian epact: the age of the reckoned moon at the start of the year.
April 3Paschal full moon of the Gregorian reckoning, a Monday. Easter is the Sunday after it.
April 7Paschal full moon of the Julian reckoning in Gregorian dates (Julian March 25), a Friday.
The two algorithms, worked for 1939
- Western: the Anonymous Gregorian algorithm
a=1 b=19 c=39 d=4 e=3 f=1 g=6 h=13 i=9 k=3 l=5 m=0h + l − 7m + 114 = 132, and 132 ÷ 31 = 4 remainder 8: month 4, day 8 + 1. April 9- Orthodox: Meeus’s Julian algorithm
a=3 b=0 c=1 d=4 e=1d + e + 114 = 119, and 119 ÷ 31 = 3 remainder 26: Julian March 27. Plus 13 days: April 9
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.