Pentecost (redirected from Pentecost Sunday)

Pentecost (pĕn`təkôst) [Gr.,=fiftieth], important Jewish and Christian feast. The Jewish feast of Pentecost, in Hebrew Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, one of the three pilgrimage festivals, arose as the celebration of the closing of the spring grain harvest, which began formally in Passover 50 days prior; there are numerous references to it in the Bible. From Rabbinic times, the festival commemorates the giving of the law to Moses at Mt. Sinai.

On the Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus (50 days from the Passover in which He was crucified), the Holy Spirit, according to the Acts of the Apostles, descended on the disciples in the form of tongues of fire accompanied by the sound of a rush of wind, and gave them the power of speaking in such a way that people of different languages could understand them. The Christian feast of Pentecost is an annual commemoration of this event, and it is solemnly observed as the birthday of the church and the feast of the Holy Spirit.

In ecclesiastical calendars Pentecost is the seventh Sunday after Easter and closes Eastertide. In the Western Church there are special observances, e.g., a penitential vigil, and in ancient times neophytes were baptized at this time. From the white garments of these converts comes Whitsunday, an English name for Pentecost. The great liturgical Latin hymns Veni Creator Spiritus and Veni Sancte Spiritus were composed for Pentecost. The Sunday after Pentecost is Trinity Sunday; until Advent the weeks are counted from Pentecost or Trinity.

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Pentecost

(from Greek pentecoste, “fiftieth day”) Christian festival commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus, occurring on the Jewish Pentecost, after Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension. The disciples began to speak in the many languages of the people assembled there, a sign that the disciples should spread the Christian message throughout the world. Jewish Pentecost was a thanksgiving feast for the first fruits of the wheat harvest and was associated with remembrance of God's gift of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. Christian Pentecost is celebrated on the Sunday concluding the 50-day period following Easter. It is also the name of the Jewish celebration of Shavuot (“Festival of Weeks”).

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Pentecost

1. a Christian festival occurring on Whit Sunday commemorating the descent of the Holy Ghost on the apostles

2. Judaism the harvest festival celebrated fifty days after the second day of Passover on the sixth and seventh days of Sivan, and commemorating the giving the Torah on Mount Sinai

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Pentecost

Between May 10 and June 13 in West and between May 24 and June 27 in East; seventh Sunday after Easter

As recorded in the New Testament in Acts 2, it was on the 50th day after Easter that the Apostles were praying together and the Holy Spirit descended on them in the form of tongues of fire. They received the "gift of tongues"—the ability to speak in other languages—and immediately began to preach about Jesus Christ to the Jews from all over the world who had flocked to Jerusalem for the Feast of Shavuot. (Pentecost, from the Greek word meaning "fiftieth," is also one of the names for the second of the three Jewish Pilgrim Festivals.) Christian Pentecost thus became not only a commemoration of the Holy Spirit's visit, but also the birth of the Christian Church. It was on roughly this same day, centuries earlier, that Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai and the Jewish religious community got its start.
The English call it White Sunday, or Whitsunday, after the white garments worn on Pentecost by the newly baptized. Although it is not certain when Pentecost began to be observed by Christians, it may have been as early as the first century. The period beginning with the Saturday before Whitsunday and ending the following Saturday is known as Whitsuntide, or in modern times simply as Whitsun .
Whitsunday has been linked to pagan spring rites, such as the English custom of Morris dancing and the drinking of "Whitsun ale." In Scotland, Whitsunday was one of the Quarter Days. In Estonia and Finland, eggs are dyed as at Easter because their hens don't lay until this time. In Germany it is called Pfingsten, and pink and red peonies, called Pfingstrosen, or "Whitsun roses," are the symbols along with birch trees. Some churches lower a carved dove into the congregation and call this "swinging the Holy Ghost." Cattle are decorated and an overdressed person is said to be "dressed like a Whitsun ox." A holdover pagan game is called "hunting the green man," or Laubmannchen —a young man dressed in leaves and moss hides, and children hunt for him.
See also Kneeling Sunday; Pinkster Day

CONTACTS:
Christian Resource Institute
4801 N.W. 62nd St.
Oklahoma City, OK 73122
801-497-0946
www.cresourcei.org
Orthodox Church in America
6850 N. Hempstead Turnpike
P.O. Box 675
Syosset, NY 11791
516-922-0550; fax: 516-922-0954
www.oca.org

SOURCES:
AmerBkDays-2000, p. 371
BkDays-1864, vol. I, p. 629
BkFest-1937, pp. 97, 135, 244, 268
DaysCustFaith-1957, pp. 161, 354
DictFolkMyth-1984, pp. 629, 750, 1127, 1175, 1176
EncyEaster-2002, p. 479
EncyRel-1987, vol. 3, p. 440
FestSaintDays-1915, p. 118
FestWestEur-1958, pp. 26, 42, 65, 153, 165, 215, 233
FolkAmerHol-1999, p. 245
FolkWrldHol-1999, p. 339
OxYear-1999, p. 631
RelHolCal-2004, pp. 96, 122
SaintFestCh-1904, p. 245

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Pentecost 

(also Whitsunday), a major Christian feast day commemorating the mythical descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, which the church regards as the beginning of the spread of Christianity. The feast occurs 50 days after Easter, usually in late May or early June. The faithful observe Pentecost and Whit-monday (the day after Pentecost) by adorning their homes with birch branches and praying for the dead, practices that evolved from pagan traditions.