2024, 2025 and 2026 Protestant holidays in the United Kingdom

Praying on the bench
Praying on the bench

2024, 2025 and 2026 Protestant Holidays

Though church attendance has severely declined in recent years, Protestantism (or Anglicanism) has remained the most popular Christian denomination in the UK. This wasn't always the case, with the UK a primarily Roman Catholic country for hundreds of years. The rise of Protestantism came in the 16th and 17th centuries and meant many Catholics were persecuted. Similarly, when Catholic monarchs took over, it was the turn of the Protestants to be persecuted. However, Henry VIII made the biggest changes. To retaliate against the Pope, he made himself head of the Church of England, and this represents the most common denomination of Protestantism today.

Nowadays, while much of the population is non-practicing, a large number of Protestant events are still known by the country as a whole, and indeed celebrated. For instance, Christmas, Easter and Pancake Day (aka Shrove Tuesday), remain very popular holidays or celebrations. That being said, a growing number of people do not join in these events for religious reasons, but rather because it’s a good excuse for parties, gifts and food. Despite this, Midnight Mass is still popular on Christmas Eve, with many still attending a service as the day turns into Christmas Day. Easter Sunday is another popular day when church attendance does see a rise, as is Ash Wednesday, though it still seems these events are more popular in the Catholic calendar.

Depending on the UK region, different practices are observed. Northern Ireland has the Church of Ireland and a large Catholic population, while England, Scotland and Wales remain more Protestant or Presbyterian in nature.

Photo credits: Evelyn Simak / CC-by-sa (The Epiphany) ; Julian P Guffogg, CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons (The Baptism of Christ) ; Richard Croft, CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons (The Conversion of Paul) ; Evelyn Simak / CC-by-sa (Joseph of Nazareth) ; Grant Whitty / Unsplash (Ash Wednesday) ; John Baker, CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons (Good Friday) ; cluttercup / CC-by-sa (Easter Monday) ; John Salmon / CC-by (The Annunciation of Our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary) ; John Salmon, CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons (Saint George's Day) ; John Salmon, CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons (Mark the Evangelist) ; John Salmon, CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons (Saint Philip and James) ; John Salmon, CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons (Matthias the Apostle) ; Gerhard Haubold, CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons (Saint Barnabas The Apostle) ; John Salmon, CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons (The Birth of John the Baptist) ; Basher Eyre, CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons (Saint Peter and Paul) ; J.Hannan-Briggs, CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons (Mary Magdalene) ; John Salmon, CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons (The Blessed Virgin Mary) ; Gabby Orcutt / Unsplash (Harvest Festival) ; ceridwen / CC-by (Luke the Evangelist) ; Photo by Jacob Amson on Unsplash (All Saints’ Day) ; julien_ortet / CC-by-sa (Saint Andrew's Day) ; Crumpled Fire / CC-by-sa (Christmas Day)