Holy Week 2026: The 7 Days Explained

Holy Week is the final and most solemn week of the Christian year, running from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday and leading directly into Easter Sunday. Across its seven days Christians retrace the last week of Jesus's life, from his triumphal entry into Jerusalem to the Last Supper, the crucifixion and the silence of the tomb. In 2026 it begins on Sunday 29 March and ends with Easter Sunday on 5 April.

Each day of Holy Week carries its own name, its own story and its own customs, and in Britain it even includes a ceremony involving the monarch. Below we walk through the week day by day, explain the words you will hear in church, set out the 2026 dates, and look at how the week is observed today. Whether you mark it in worship or simply want to understand the season behind the long Easter weekend, here is what each day means.

What is Holy Week?

Holy Week is the sixth and last week of Lent, the forty-day season of fasting, prayer and reflection that begins on Ash Wednesday. According to Wikipedia, it begins on Palm Sunday and concludes on Holy Saturday, with Easter Sunday standing just beyond it as the climax of the whole season. Christians often describe Lent as a journey, and Holy Week is its final destination, recalling the so-called passion narratives in the Gospels that tell of the suffering, death and burial of Jesus Christ.

It is an emotional week. The mood moves from the cheering crowds of Palm Sunday, through the growing shadows of midweek, to the grief of Good Friday and the stillness of Holy Saturday, before everything turns to joy at Easter. That arc, from celebration to sorrow to hope, is what gives the week its weight in the Christian calendar.

Holy Week 2026 dates

Easter is a moveable feast, so Holy Week lands on different dates each year. In 2026 the days fall as follows:

• Palm Sunday – Sunday 29 March 2026
• Holy Monday – Monday 30 March 2026
• Holy Tuesday – Tuesday 31 March 2026
• Holy (Spy) Wednesday – Wednesday 1 April 2026
• Maundy Thursday – Thursday 2 April 2026
• Good Friday – Friday 3 April 2026
• Holy Saturday – Saturday 4 April 2026
• Easter Sunday – Sunday 5 April 2026

Palm Sunday: the triumphal entry

Holy Week opens with Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus arriving in Jerusalem to the cheers of the crowd. The Gospels describe people waving palm branches and shouting "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" In many churches, worshippers still receive small crosses folded from palm leaves, both to remember the branches laid across the road and to point ahead to the cross to come. Some families keep these palm crosses at home through the year; traditionally they are burned the following Lent to make the ash for the next Ash Wednesday.

There is a quiet irony built into the day. Many of the same voices that greet Jesus as king on Palm Sunday will, only a few days later, be among those calling for his execution. For that reason it is sometimes also called the Sunday of the Passion, when one of the Gospel passion narratives is read aloud in full.

Holy Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

The first three days of the week are quieter, recalling Jesus teaching in the temple and the plot against him taking shape. Holy Wednesday, known in earlier times as Spy Wednesday, marks the moment Judas Iscariot agreed to betray Jesus. In many traditions it is observed with a service of Tenebrae, the Latin word for "darkness", in which psalms and readings are heard while candles on a special candelabrum are put out one by one, leaving the church in gathering shadow. The growing darkness stands for the abandonment of Jesus by his followers and looks ahead to the anguish of Good Friday.

Maundy Thursday: the Last Supper

Maundy Thursday remembers the Last Supper, the meal Jesus shared with his disciples on the night before he died. It was here that he broke bread and poured wine, washed his disciples' feet as an act of humble service, and gave the "new commandment" to love one another. The word "maundy" comes from mandatum, the Latin for "commandment", and many churches mark the day with a foot-washing ceremony and a service of Holy Communion. Later that night, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was betrayed and arrested.

Britain keeps a custom found almost nowhere else. On Maundy Thursday the sovereign takes part in the Ceremony of the Royal Maundy, distributing specially minted Maundy money to deserving senior citizens, one man and one woman for each year of the monarch's age. The recipients receive ceremonial red and white purses; the white purse holds one coin for each year of the reign. In earlier centuries the monarch would wash the feet of the poor in imitation of Jesus, a practice last carried out by James II.

Good Friday: the crucifixion

Good Friday is the most solemn day of the year for Christians, commemorating the trial, crucifixion, death and burial of Jesus. It can seem a strange name for so sorrowful a day, but "good" here carries an older sense of "holy" or "pious", and in some languages the day is simply called Holy Friday. The main service traditionally falls between midday and three in the afternoon, the hours of the crucifixion, and often takes the form of a meditation on the seven last words Jesus spoke from the cross. For many Christians it is a day of fasting and quiet reflection, with the cross at the centre of worship. Good Friday is a public holiday across the UK.

Holy Saturday and the Easter Vigil

Holy Saturday is a day of waiting and silence, symbolising the time Jesus lay in the tomb. It is often, but wrongly, called Easter Saturday, a name that properly belongs to the Saturday after Easter. The day ends with the Easter Vigil, the first service of Easter, usually held late at night. It begins in darkness outside the church, where a new fire is kindled and the tall white Paschal candle is lit and carried inside. The candle, marked with a cross and the year, stands for the risen Christ as the light of the world, and from it the congregation light their own candles as the darkness gives way. The vigil often includes the baptism of new members and the renewal of baptismal vows.

Easter Sunday: the resurrection

Holy Week gives way to Easter Sunday, the joyful celebration of the resurrection and the heart of the Christian faith. Christians believe that on this morning Jesus's followers found the tomb empty and the stone rolled away, conquering death and opening the promise of eternal life. After the sorrow of Good Friday, the day is one of light, music and feasting, and in many homes a roast lamb lunch and an egg hunt follow the morning service. If you would like more on the festival itself, our collection of Easter gifts and ideas gathers cheerful pieces for the whole family.

How Holy Week is observed today

For practising Christians, Holy Week is the busiest stretch of the church year, with services on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil each marking a step in the story. The BBC notes that pilgrims in Jerusalem retrace the Via Dolorosa, the "Way of Suffering", following the route Jesus is said to have walked to his crucifixion.

For many families in the UK the week is felt mainly through the long weekend that Good Friday and Easter Monday create, a natural moment to slow down whatever your beliefs. A reflective morning in soft Easter pyjamas before church, or a quiet afternoon curled up together once the formal days are over, fits the unhurried spirit of the season as much as any custom.

So however you come to it, Holy Week remains the most meaningful stretch of the Christian year: seven days that move from the cheers of Palm Sunday to the silence of the tomb, and on to the hope of Easter morning.