What Easter Monday Means in the United Kingdom
Easter Monday is the Monday immediately following Easter Sunday in the Christian calendar. In the United Kingdom it is a public holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but not in Scotland, where Easter Monday is a normal working day for most people. Because it falls the day after Easter Sunday, it is part of the wider Easter season rather than a feast with a distinct religious identity of its own; in Christian tradition the whole octave of Easter, the eight days from Easter Sunday to the following Sunday, is treated as a continuous celebration of the Resurrection.
The day is therefore best understood as a "bank holiday Monday" — a long weekend day off attached to the most important festival of the Christian year — rather than a day with customs unique to itself.
Origins
Easter Monday's status in the United Kingdom derives from the general development of the bank holiday system rather than from any single historical event. The Bank Holidays Act of 1871, introduced by Sir John Lubbock, established a set of public holidays in England, Wales and Ireland, including Easter Monday. Scotland was given a separate list of holidays under the same Act, and Easter Monday was not among them — a distinction that survives to this day. The holiday was later carried forward under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, which remains the governing legislation for bank holidays in the UK.
The name "bank holiday" reflects the original purpose: days on which banks and financial institutions closed. Over time these days became general public holidays for most workplaces.
Customs and Traditions
Easter Monday is not associated with a fixed set of national traditions in the way that Christmas Day or Bonfire Night are. Instead, it functions as the second half of the Easter weekend, and much of what happens on the day is a continuation of Easter Sunday activities:
- Family gatherings and meals: The Easter weekend is commonly spent with family, and Monday often serves as a second day for visiting relatives or hosting guests.
- Egg rolling: A traditional game in which decorated hard-boiled eggs are rolled down a grassy slope; the egg that travels furthest without breaking wins. It is particularly associated with Easter Monday in parts of northern England.
- Egg hunts: Chocolate egg hunts, often organised in gardens, parks and National Trust properties, are widely held over the Easter weekend including Monday.
- Outings: With a day off work and schools typically on their spring holiday, Easter Monday is a popular day for trips to the countryside, seaside, gardens and heritage sites.
- Sporting fixtures: Easter Monday has traditionally been a busy day in the football calendar, with fixtures scheduled for the holiday.
Food and Drink
Food associated with Easter Monday is essentially the food of the Easter weekend as a whole:
- Roast lamb: Lamb is the classic Easter meat in the UK, associated with spring, and a roast lamb lunch is a common Easter Sunday or Monday meal.
- Simnel cake: A rich fruit cake topped with marzipan, traditionally decorated with eleven marzipan balls representing the apostles (excluding Judas). It is strongly associated with Easter and Mothering Sunday.
- Hot cross buns: Spiced buns marked with a cross, traditionally eaten on Good Friday but widely available and eaten throughout the Easter period.
- Chocolate eggs and bunnies: The dominant modern Easter food, given as gifts and eaten over the whole weekend.
Religious and Civic Observances
Easter Monday itself has no major liturgical observance comparable to the services of Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Churches that hold services on the day generally continue the celebration of the Resurrection rather than marking a separate feast. For most of the population the day is a secular holiday.
Civically, Easter Monday is one of the bank holidays designated under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971. When it falls, banks, government offices and many businesses close, and public transport often runs a reduced or special timetable.
Regional Variations
The most significant variation is between Scotland and the rest of the UK:
- England, Wales and Northern Ireland: Easter Monday is a bank holiday.
- Scotland: Easter Monday is not a bank holiday. Scottish bank holidays are set separately, and while some Scottish employers and local areas observe the day, it is not a universal public holiday. Good Friday's status in Scotland is also more limited than in England and Wales.
Within England, egg rolling is most strongly associated with northern counties, and various towns and villages hold their own local events on Easter Monday. Beyond these general patterns, Easter Monday in the UK is a shared, largely informal holiday rather than a day with sharply distinct regional rites.