Ascension Day, also known as the Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, is an important religious festival celebrated by Christians. It is celebrated on Thursday, the 40th day of Easter, or 39 days after Easter Sunday.
Ascension Day commemorates the Christian belief in the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. According to the New Testament narrative, Jesus visited the Mount of Olives, where he instructed his disciples. On the 40th day after his resurrection, he visited again and was taken into heaven in the presence of eleven disciples when he was blessing them.
Ascension Day is celebrated Thursday, also called "Ascension Thursday" or "Holy Thursday". However, not all countries have Ascension Day as a public holiday, so Ascension Day is celebrated on the following Sunday in some countries to allow more people to join the celebrations.
Many Eastern Orthodox churches use the Julian calendar to calculate their celebrations. Because the 40th day of Easter in the Julian calendar corresponds to a day later in the Gregorian calendar, East Orthodox churches will normally have Ascension Day after the Western Observation.
The following is the list of Ascension Day from 2022 to 2026.
Holiday | Western | Weekday | Eastern | Weekday |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ascension Day | May 26, 2022 | Thursday | Jun 02, 2022 | Thursday |
Ascension Day | May 18, 2023 | Thursday | May 25, 2023 | Thursday |
Ascension Day | May 09, 2024 | Thursday | Jun 13, 2024 | Thursday |
Ascension Day | May 29, 2025 | Thursday | May 29, 2025 | Thursday |
Ascension Day | May 14, 2026 | Thursday | May 21, 2026 | Thursday |
Please check more Christian holidays: