Holidays set by the Moon in 2027: Easter, Ramadan, Diwali and more

Lunar New Year on February 6, Ramadan from about February 8, Holi on March 22, Easter on March 28, Passover from sunset on April 21, Vesak on May 20, the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 15, Rosh Hashanah from sunset on October 1 and Diwali on October 29: all of these take their 2027 dates from the Moon. Each is pinned to a new moon, a full moon, or a count of days from one, which is why they wander around the calendar while Christmas stays put.

This guide goes through the moon-based holidays of 2027 tradition by tradition, with the phase behind each date and a full table at the end. The moon data comes from the full moon calendar 2027, in UTC. The holiday dates were checked against calendars published by or for the communities that keep them. Where a date depends on a crescent sighting or on regional custom, you will find that noted.

Why do moon-based holidays move every year?

The Gregorian calendar follows the Sun. Most religious calendars are older and follow the Moon, whose cycle from new moon to new moon averages 29.53 days. Twelve of those cycles make 354 days, about 11 days short of a solar year. Lunisolar calendars (Hebrew, Chinese, Hindu and most Buddhist ones) add a leap month every two or three years, so their festivals stay in the same season but slide back and forth within a window of roughly a month. The Islamic calendar is purely lunar, so its holidays arrive about 11 days earlier every year and pass through all seasons in roughly 33 years. Easter is a third case: a Christian feast on a solar calendar that is still counted from a spring full moon. How these systems grew up is told in the history of lunar calendars.

Three things to keep in mind when you read the dates:

• Jewish and Islamic days begin at sunset. The evening before the date on your wall calendar already belongs to the holiday.
• Islamic months start when the crescent is seen. Dates are forecasts until the sighting, and neighboring countries can be a day apart.
• Hindu festivals depend on the lunar day (tithi) at a given place. A tithi can end mid-afternoon, so calendars in India, Singapore or London sometimes land on different days.

When are Lunar New Year, Ramadan and Eid in 2027?

Lunar New Year falls on Saturday, February 6, 2027, and opens the Year of the Goat. The Chinese calendar starts each month on the day of the new moon, and the new year normally arrives with the second new moon after the December solstice. In 2027 that is the new moon of February 6 at 15:56 UTC, still February 6 in China. Celebrations run for fifteen days and close with the Lantern Festival on February 20, hours before the Snow Moon turns exactly full at 23:24 UTC (the morning of February 21 in China). That full moon also brings a faint penumbral lunar eclipse, a subtle dusky shading rather than a red moon.

The same new moon opens Ramadan. The thin crescent is usually first seen a day or two after the astronomical new moon, and Ramadan is expected to begin on Monday, February 8. In countries where the crescent is sighted a day later, the fast starts a day later too. The month ends with Eid al-Fitr on March 9 or 10, after the new moon of March 8; Singapore has already fixed its public holiday for March 10. A February Ramadan means short fasting days in London, Toronto and New York, and long late-summer days in Sydney, Johannesburg and Auckland.

Eid al-Adha falls on the tenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the month that begins with the crescent after the new moon of May 6. It is expected around Monday, May 17, the date Singapore has set for its holiday, give or take a day depending on the sighting where you live.

When is Easter 2027, and when is Passover?

Western churches keep a rule that took shape in the centuries after the Council of Nicaea: Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21. In 2027 the March equinox comes on March 20 (20:24 UTC), the Worm Moon of March 22 is full at 10:44 UTC, and Easter Sunday is March 28. That is an early Easter. In Australia, New Zealand and South Africa that same full moon is the Harvest Moon, so Easter there arrives in autumn. The rest of the church year follows from that one date:

• Ash Wednesday: February 10, 46 days before Easter.
• Good Friday: March 26.
• Easter Sunday and Monday: March 28 and 29.
• Ascension Day: May 6, 39 days after Easter.
• Pentecost: May 16, 49 days after Easter.

Orthodox churches use the same rule on the Julian calendar with older moon tables that run a few days behind the sky. In 2027 that puts Orthodox Easter on Sunday, May 2, the second Sunday after the April full moon.

Passover begins on the 15th of Nisan, at the full moon of the first spring month. The Hebrew year 5787 is a leap year with an extra month of Adar, so in 2027 Passover comes a full lunar month after Western Easter: it begins at sunset on Wednesday, April 21 and ends at nightfall on April 29. The Pink Moon is full at 22:27 UTC on April 20 (April 21 in India and Australia), so the first Seder falls under an essentially round moon. Purim, a month earlier, begins at sunset on March 22, the day of the Worm Moon.

Learn the new and full moons of 2027 and you can read the whole festival year: nearly every date in this guide sits within a day or two of a dark moon or a round one.

Which Hindu and Buddhist festivals follow the Moon in 2027?

Holi celebrates spring on the full moon (purnima) of the month Phalguna. The Drik Panchang calendar places the Holika Dahan bonfire on the evening of Sunday, March 21 and the day of colors on Monday, March 22; some published lists give March 23 for the colors, so check your local temple or community. The purnima ends at the full moon of March 22, the same moon that sets Easter.

Vesak, the Buddhist festival of the Buddha’s birth, awakening and passing, is held on the full moon of the month Vesakha. In 2027 it falls on Thursday, May 20 in most countries that observe it, including Singapore, and India marks Buddha Purnima the same day. The Flower Moon is full at 10:59 UTC and is also a seasonal blue moon by the astronomical seasons.

Raksha Bandhan, when sisters tie a rakhi thread around their brothers’ wrists, falls on the full moon of Shravana: Tuesday, August 17, 2027. The Sturgeon Moon is full at 07:29 UTC that day, with a penumbral lunar eclipse (greatest at 07:13 UTC).

Diwali hangs on the darkest night instead. Lakshmi Puja, the main evening, falls on the new moon (amavasya) and is Friday, October 29 in India; the five days run from Dhanteras on October 27 to Bhai Dooj on October 31. The new moon of October arrives at 13:37 UTC (October 30 in Australia). Singapore’s official Deepavali holiday is Thursday, October 28, a reminder that tithi-based dates can differ by region.

Loi Krathong in Thailand floats candlelit baskets on the full moon of the 12th Thai lunar month: Saturday evening, November 13, 2027. The Beaver Moon becomes exactly full at 03:26 UTC, which is still November 13 in the Americas and already November 14 in Thailand, so the baskets go out on the eve of the exact moment.

Which holidays fall around the Harvest Moon?

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth Chinese month: Wednesday, September 15, 2027. The Harvest Moon is full at 23:04 UTC, which is already September 16 across East Asia, so families eat mooncakes under a moon less than half a day short of full. For Chinese communities in Sydney or Auckland, the autumn festival arrives in early spring.

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins at sunset on Friday, October 1 and ends at nightfall on Sunday, October 3, just after the new moon of September 30 (September 29 in the US). Yom Kippur follows from sunset on October 10 to nightfall on October 11. Sukkot begins at sunset on Friday, October 15, the day the Hunter’s Moon is full at 13:47 UTC. Hanukkah runs from sunset on December 24 to January 1, 2028, and its candles burn through the new moon of December 27, the darkest nights of the month.

Moon-based holidays of 2027 at a glance

Holiday	Date in 2027	Moon behind the date
Lunar New Year	Sat Feb 6	New moon, Feb 6
Ramadan begins	About Mon Feb 8 (sighting)	Crescent after new moon of Feb 6
Lantern Festival	Sat Feb 20	Full moon, Feb 20 to 21
Eid al-Fitr	Mar 9 or 10 (sighting)	Crescent after new moon of Mar 8
Holi	Mon Mar 22 (bonfire Mar 21)	Full moon, Mar 22
Easter (Western)	Sun Mar 28	Sunday after full moon of Mar 22
Passover	Sunset Apr 21 to Apr 29	Full moon, Apr 20 to 21
Orthodox Easter	Sun May 2	Julian tables, after April full moon
Eid al-Adha	About Mon May 17 (sighting)	10 Dhu al-Hijjah, after new moon of May 6
Vesak, Buddha Purnima	Thu May 20	Full moon, May 20
Raksha Bandhan	Tue Aug 17	Full moon, Aug 17
Mid-Autumn Festival	Wed Sep 15	Full moon, Sep 15 to 16
Rosh Hashanah	Sunset Oct 1 to Oct 3	New moon, Sep 29 to 30
Yom Kippur	Sunset Oct 10 to Oct 11	10 Tishrei
Sukkot	From sunset Oct 15	Full moon, Oct 15
Diwali, Lakshmi Puja	Fri Oct 29 (Oct 28 in Singapore)	New moon, Oct 29
Loi Krathong	Sat Nov 13	Full moon, Nov 13 to 14
Hanukkah	Sunset Dec 24 to Jan 1	Spans new moon of Dec 27

Almost every date in the table sits within a few days of a new or full moon. If you know the thirteen new moons of 2027 and the twelve full moons in the full moon calendar, you can see each festival coming weeks ahead. To keep them in view, add every full moon to your phone with the calendar subscription.