What and when is Pentecost?

According to the New Testament of the Bible (Acts 2), after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the Holy Spirit came to the disciples of Jesus, when they were gathered for the celebration of the date on the Jewish calendar known as Shavuot or Pentecost. In the Christian calendar, the Feast of the Pentecost, or Pentecost Day, commemorates that event. Pentecost is also known as Whitsunday (white Sunday) because many people were baptized on that day and wore white for baptism.

When is Pentecost Day?

In the traditional church calendar, the Feast of the Pentecost is observed fifty days or seven weeks after Easter. As with other examples of counting time, the beginning and end day are included. For example, according to the Bible, Jesus was buried on Friday and rose on Sunday, but he is said to have been in the grave for three days: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Easter, of course, moves around on the calendar, not earlier than March 22 or later than April 25, and so dates such as Ascension Day and Pentecost also move. You can find out why the date of Easter changes here.

Why is Pentecost important?

With the Feast of the Ascension, ten days earlier, the Church commemorates the last event in the incarnation, the physical presence of the Christ on earth (which I wrote about here). Pentecost is important in the calendar and history of the Church, because of the coming of the Holy Spirit, commemorated on a day which some call the birthday of the church. Under the Holy Spirit, the church becomes the "body of Christ" on earth, in a new period in Christian history, a period that extends to our time.

Pentecost? But, I'm a Protestant...

Many Protestant reformers enthusiastically cut out holidays and practices that were not literally mandated in the Bible, including Christmas. But Pentecost has a special place in the history of Protestantism, because from its name comes the word Pentecostalism, and that is a long, complicated history that I am going to leave to Wikipedia to sort out (here).

Pentecost? But, I'm Jewish...

With respect to Jews and Christians alike, this article is about the Christian Feast of Pentecost. But, as with so many aspects of Christianity, the (Christian) Pentecost is a reflection and a derivation of Jewish practices, in fact a Jewish Feast of Pentecost, discussed in an entry (here) in the online version of The Jewish Encyclopedia (here), a reference work dating from 1901-1906.

Just as Christians think of their Pentecost as the birth of the Church, so does the Jewish Encyclopedia speak of their Pentecost, a harvest festival, as "the birthday of the Torah" and even "the birthday of Judaism." The article concludes with this statement, "The relation of the Jewish to the Christian Pentecost with its pouring out of the spirit as an analogy to the giving the Law in seventy languages is obvious."

Pentecost? But, I'm an English teacher...

And so was I, so I know that English teachers need all the feasts and festivals they can get. Pentecost means "fifty days." Christianity interprets that as being fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus. Judaism counts fifty days between the first harvest of grain (barley) and the last (wheat) or fifty days between the Jews' departure from Egypt (the Exodus) and God's giving them the Law on Mr. Sinai. You could include this information in lessons on prefixes referring to number (more) or derived from Greek (more).

One possible lesson of Pentecost Day

In the second chapter of the book of Acts, as the disciples begin speaking, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in different languages, it becomes clear that Christianity is not going to be confined to backwater of the Roman Empire. But, I remember the accusation that they are all babbling under the influence of too much wine. It certainly was not the last time that Christians would be misunderstood as they faced the rest of the world.

Traditions of Pentecost Day

Pentecost was a traditional time for baptisms, hence, for wearing white. Somehow, that extended to mean the wearing of new clothes (something that my family and church associated with Easter when I was growing up). In England, Pentecost was a day for Morris dance and other traditions dating back to pagan traditions associated with spring in what was known as the "Whitsun ales," not sales - our mark of a holiday - but ales.

Among the "Pennsylvania Dutch," the following day, known as Whit Monday, was celebrated so enthusiastically that it became known as the "Dutch Fourth of July" (more). In many countries, Whit Monday has various legal and historical associations. In 2005 in France, the government cancelled the traditional holiday, but people stayed home from work in protest, and so, the government has reinstated the holiday (more).

Music for Pentecost Day

From 1949 to 1950, French composer Olivier Messiaen (whom I wrote about here) worked on a piece for the organ called "Messe de la Pentecôte" (Mass for Pentecost).

The five movements, lasting about a half hour, are: Entrance (Tongues of fire), Offertory (Things seen and unseen), Consecration (The gift of wisdom), Communion (The birds and the sources), and Exit (The wind of the Holy Spirit). By the way, birds were a recurring source of inspiration for Messiaen.

You can listen to a recording of Messiaen's haunting organ music online performed by Louis Thiry (here).

You can find an index to all my articles on Christian topics here.