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Holy Week
Holy Saturday / Great and Holy Saturday
Also called: Silent Saturday, Easter Eve, Sabbato Santo, Sábado Santo
4 April 2026
All Christians
Holy Saturday is the quiet day between Good Friday and Easter — Jesus is in the tomb and churches feel strangely empty until nightfall. Catholics hold no daytime Mass; the grand Easter Vigil after dark is one of the longest and most dramatic services of the year, with fire, candles, baptisms, and bells.
Orthodox Christians venerate the embroidered burial shroud of Christ in moving night processions. Eden lists retreat centres that offer Holy Saturday vigils and quiet reflection.
At a glance
- Type
- feast
- Date type
- Moveable (changes with Easter)
- Regions
- Global
- Themes
- Passion & Death, Resurrection, End Times & Hope
- Liturgical colour
- White (Easter Vigil), no liturgical services in daytime
Common questions
Holy Saturday is observed on 4 April 2026. Moveable feasts shift each year; fixed feasts stay on the same calendar date.
The day between Christ's burial and resurrection — a day of silence, vigil, and anticipation. No Mass is celebrated during the daytime in the Catholic tradition; the only liturgy is the Easter Vigil, which begins after nightfall. The Easter Vigil is considered the "mother of all vigils" and includes the Service of Light (lighting the Paschal candle), the Liturgy of the Word with multiple Old Testa
It is associated with All Christians. It falls in the Holy Week, Triduum season of the liturgical year.