When is Greek Easter in 2027?
Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday 2027 falls on 2 May 2027, according to the Church of Greece's official table of Easter dates. In 2026 it fell on 12 April 2026, so Holy Week 2027 arrives later, at the turn of April and May.
In Zante, Holy Week really starts on Lazarus Saturday and runs to Easter Monday. The table gives each day in 2027 and what the Holy Metropolis of Zakynthos describes for it.
| Day | Date in 2027 | In Zante |
|---|---|---|
| Lazarus Saturday | 24 April | Church bells ring at 11:00 and palm leaves go up on the bell towers |
| Palm Sunday | 25 April | After the liturgy the sextons take the woven palm to every house |
| Holy Tuesday | 27 April | The Hymn of Kassiani in the evening services |
| Holy Thursday | 29 April | The bells fall silent until Saturday morning |
| Good Friday | 30 April | Procession of the Crucified at 14:00; public holiday |
| Holy Saturday | 1 May | Epitaphios before dawn; Resurrection procession at 23:45 |
| Easter Sunday | 2 May 2027 | Resurrection liturgies in the morning; Vespers of Love in the afternoon |
| Easter Monday | 3 May | Feasts in most villages; public holiday |
Which days are public holidays in Greece at Easter?
Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are official holidays in Greece, on the list published by EURES, the European Commission's job-mobility portal. In 2027 a fourth holiday lands inside Holy Week: Labour Day, 1 May, is Holy Saturday.
Two more movable holidays depend on the Easter date. Clean Monday, the first day of Lent, falls on 15 March 2027, and Whit Monday (Agiou Pnevmatos) on 21 June 2027.
What makes Holy Week in Zante different?
Its own customs and its own church music. The Holy Metropolis of Zakynthos says the week has a character all of its own, with a local order of service and old customs that islanders keep with great care.
On Lazarus Saturday the bell towers are hung not with bay leaves, as elsewhere in Greece, but with fresh palm fronds woven into crosses, suns and little horses. On Holy Tuesday evening the choirs of Saint Dionysios, the metropolitan church of Agios Nikolaos and Faneromeni sing the Hymn of Kassiani.
From Holy Thursday the bells stop until Saturday morning, and the hymns are sung in the Zakynthian church style. The Crucified is carried out after the eleventh Gospel, not the fifth as in most of Greece.
On Good Friday the island uses no embroidered Epitaphios. The dead Christ is a carved, double-sided painted icon called the Amnos, and the biers are carved wood with gold leaf and velvet, so they are not dressed with flowers.
When is the Good Friday procession in Zante Town?
At 14:00, the time the Holy Metropolis gives for the procession of the Crucified, the high point of the Zakynthian Holy Week. It leaves the church of Agios Nikolaos tou Molou, and the icon of the Mater Dolorosa is carried with the cross.
The philharmonic band opens it with the psalm 'Ina ti efryaxan ethni' ('Why do the nations rage'). Visit Greece notes that the first philharmonic in Greece was founded on Zakynthos and that the bands play in the town's streets at Easter.
The procession crosses almost the whole town and comes back to Solomos Square, where the Metropolitan blesses the crowd from a dais. It ends in the same church. The 2027 programme has not been published yet, so check the time locally that week.
Where is the Resurrection, and how long is Zante's Easter night?
The Resurrection is proclaimed in St Mark's Square: the service starts at the metropolitan church at 23:15 on Holy Saturday and the procession leaves for the square at 23:45. The Metropolitan sings 'Christos Anesti' there in the Zakynthian style.
The night before is just as long. At the metropolitan church of Agios Nikolaos ton Xenon the Epitaphios lament starts at 02:00 on Holy Saturday morning, the bier goes out around 04:00 and returns around 05:30. That service ends with the 'Gloria', the First Resurrection, when households break clay pots.
By local custom the Easter liturgy is not said straight after midnight but on Sunday morning. The exception is the church of Saint Dionysios, the island's patron, which holds one at 01:00 and another in the morning.
Zante Town is 9 km by road from Laganas and 4 km from Argasi. Between 00:00 and 05:00 the taxi meter runs on tariff 2, as we explain in our airport and taxi article.
What happens on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday?
Processions with icons, in town and in the villages. On Sunday afternoon the Vespers of Love are held at the church of Agios Lazaros in Zante Town, and the icons of Panagia Galanousa and of the Resurrection are carried in procession.
On Easter Monday most of the island's villages hold their feast, with services and processions in the morning and afternoon. In town, the icon of Panagia Laourentaina is carried in the afternoon from Psiloma, on the Bochali hill, to the church of Agia Triada; the hill is in our day guide to Zante.
What's open in Zante at Easter, before the season?
The Museum of Zakynthos and the castle at Bochali are on their summer hours from 1 April, 08:30–15:30 and closed on Tuesdays. Hellenic Heritage closes both on 1 May and on Easter Sunday, which in 2027 means Holy Saturday and Easter Day; Easter Monday is not on its list of closing days.
Club nights are another matter. In 2026 Club Barrage listed a night on 22 February and then nothing until 9 May, so Easter week passed without one; when we checked on 5 November 2026, no club had published a 2027 date.
When the first nights are announced they will appear on our May page and on the 2027 season page. If you fly in for Easter, the airport keeps shorter hours outside the summer.
