About Easter Monday
Easter Monday falls on the day after Easter Sunday and is the second day of Eastertide — the fifty-day liturgical season that runs from the Resurrection to Pentecost. In the early church the whole week after Easter was celebrated as one continuous feast, and Easter Monday is in many countries the last legal echo of that octave. It is a public holiday in most of Europe, including the Nordic countries, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Ireland and the United Kingdom (except Scotland), and also in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. In the United States and across most of the Spanish-speaking Americas it is a regular working day. The day has no specific theological theme of its own — it simply extends the joy of Easter.
Easter Monday is the relaxed companion to Easter Sunday — the day for getting outdoors after the religious solemnity. In Italy it is Pasquetta, the classic day for a picnic in the countryside or at the beach, with leftovers, frittata and Easter pie. In Poland and parts of central Europe it is Smigus-Dyngus, the wet Monday, when boys traditionally splash girls with water for good luck. In the UK and Ireland it is a bank holiday for fairs, races and the start of the cricket season. In Germany and Scandinavia families often use it to wind down the long Easter weekend with a walk in the countryside. Churches still hold services, but the mood is markedly lighter than the day before, and Easter eggs are still being eaten.