diff --git a/hugolib/page.go b/hugolib/page.go
index a5fe6c8a3b3..900c05d1530 100644
--- a/hugolib/page.go
+++ b/hugolib/page.go
@@ -1115,6 +1115,9 @@ func (p *Page) update(frontmatter map[string]interface{}) error {
 	// Needed for case insensitive fetching of params values
 	helpers.ToLowerMap(frontmatter)
 
+	// Handle the date separately
+	p.s.frontmatterConfig.handleDate(frontmatter, p)
+
 	var modified time.Time
 
 	var err error
@@ -1151,11 +1154,7 @@ func (p *Page) update(frontmatter map[string]interface{}) error {
 			p.Keywords = cast.ToStringSlice(v)
 			p.params[loki] = p.Keywords
 		case "date":
-			p.Date, err = cast.ToTimeE(v)
-			if err != nil {
-				p.s.Log.ERROR.Printf("Failed to parse date '%v' in page %s", v, p.File.Path())
-			}
-			p.params[loki] = p.Date
+			// Handled separately.
 		case "headless":
 			// For now, only the leaf bundles ("index.md") can be headless (i.e. produce no output).
 			// We may expand on this in the future, but that gets more complex pretty fast.
diff --git a/hugolib/page_frontmatter.go b/hugolib/page_frontmatter.go
index 72e085b742b..db571bfe819 100644
--- a/hugolib/page_frontmatter.go
+++ b/hugolib/page_frontmatter.go
@@ -15,23 +15,46 @@ package hugolib
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"log"
+	"os"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/gohugoio/hugo/config"
 	"github.com/spf13/cast"
+	jww "github.com/spf13/jwalterweatherman"
 )
 
 type frontmatterConfig struct {
 	// Ordered chain.
 	dateHandlers []frontmatterFieldHandler
+
+	logger *jww.Notepad
+}
+
+func (f frontmatterConfig) handleField(handlers []frontmatterFieldHandler, frontmatter map[string]interface{}, p *Page) {
+	for _, h := range handlers {
+		if handled := h(frontmatter, p); handled {
+			return
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func (f frontmatterConfig) handleDate(frontmatter map[string]interface{}, p *Page) {
+	f.handleField(f.dateHandlers, frontmatter, p)
 }
 
 type frontmatterFieldHandler func(frontmatter map[string]interface{}, p *Page) bool
 
-func newFrontmatterConfig(cfg config.Provider) (frontmatterConfig, error) {
-	var f frontmatterConfig
+func newFrontmatterConfig(logger *jww.Notepad, cfg config.Provider) (frontmatterConfig, error) {
+
+	if logger == nil {
+		logger = jww.NewNotepad(jww.LevelWarn, jww.LevelWarn, os.Stdout, ioutil.Discard, "", log.Ldate|log.Ltime)
+	}
 
-	handlers := new(frontmatterFieldHandlers)
+	f := frontmatterConfig{logger: logger}
+
+	handlers := &frontmatterFieldHandlers{logger: logger}
 
 	f.dateHandlers = []frontmatterFieldHandler{handlers.defaultDateHandler}
 
@@ -59,9 +82,28 @@ func newFrontmatterConfig(cfg config.Provider) (frontmatterConfig, error) {
 	return f, nil
 }
 
-type frontmatterFieldHandlers int
+type frontmatterFieldHandlers struct {
+	logger *jww.Notepad
+}
+
+// TODO(bep) modtime
 
 func (f *frontmatterFieldHandlers) defaultDateHandler(frontmatter map[string]interface{}, p *Page) bool {
+	loki := "date"
+	v, found := frontmatter[loki]
+	if !found {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	var err error
+	p.Date, err = cast.ToTimeE(v)
+	if err != nil {
+		f.logger.ERROR.Printf("Failed to parse date '%v' in page %s", v, p.File.Path())
+		return true
+	}
+
+	p.params[loki] = p.Date
+
 	return true
 }
 
diff --git a/hugolib/page_frontmatter_test.go b/hugolib/page_frontmatter_test.go
index ac7d35de6ef..a4b74400c23 100644
--- a/hugolib/page_frontmatter_test.go
+++ b/hugolib/page_frontmatter_test.go
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ func TestNewFrontmatterConfig(t *testing.T) {
 
 	assert := require.New(t)
 
-	fc, err := newFrontmatterConfig(v)
+	fc, err := newFrontmatterConfig(newWarningLogger(), v)
 
 	assert.NoError(err)
 	assert.Equal(2, len(fc.dateHandlers))
diff --git a/hugolib/site.go b/hugolib/site.go
index 95cd0a23edf..6fdde99336b 100644
--- a/hugolib/site.go
+++ b/hugolib/site.go
@@ -121,6 +121,9 @@ type Site struct {
 	outputFormatsConfig output.Formats
 	mediaTypesConfig    media.Types
 
+	// How to handle page front matter.
+	frontmatterConfig frontmatterConfig
+
 	// We render each site for all the relevant output formats in serial with
 	// this rendering context pointing to the current one.
 	rc *siteRenderingContext
@@ -177,6 +180,7 @@ func (s *Site) reset() *Site {
 		relatedDocsHandler:  newSearchIndexHandler(s.relatedDocsHandler.cfg),
 		outputFormats:       s.outputFormats,
 		outputFormatsConfig: s.outputFormatsConfig,
+		frontmatterConfig:   s.frontmatterConfig,
 		mediaTypesConfig:    s.mediaTypesConfig,
 		resourceSpec:        s.resourceSpec,
 		Language:            s.Language,
@@ -248,6 +252,11 @@ func newSite(cfg deps.DepsCfg) (*Site, error) {
 
 	titleFunc := helpers.GetTitleFunc(cfg.Language.GetString("titleCaseStyle"))
 
+	fmConfig, err := newFrontmatterConfig(cfg.Logger, cfg.Cfg)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
 	s := &Site{
 		PageCollections:     c,
 		layoutHandler:       output.NewLayoutHandler(cfg.Cfg.GetString("themesDir") != ""),
@@ -258,6 +267,7 @@ func newSite(cfg deps.DepsCfg) (*Site, error) {
 		outputFormats:       outputFormats,
 		outputFormatsConfig: siteOutputFormatsConfig,
 		mediaTypesConfig:    siteMediaTypesConfig,
+		frontmatterConfig:   fmConfig,
 	}
 
 	s.Info = newSiteInfo(siteBuilderCfg{s: s, pageCollections: c, language: s.Language})