Sunday, 23rd May marks the Christian holiday of Pentecost.  It is the Spring Bank Holiday Monday the day after. The Monday was a bank holiday in the United Kingdom until 1967. It was formally replaced by the fixed Spring Bank Holiday on the last Monday in May in 1971.
Countries that celebrate the Pentecost include: Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Austria, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, The British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominica, France, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Hungary, Iceland, Ivory Coast, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montserrat, The Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Switzerland, Togo and Ukraine.

Another moveable feast, Pentecost is celebrated on the 50th day from Easter Sunday. Also called Whitsunday, which was White Sunday. White Sunday made reference to the special white garments worn by the newly baptized. Baptism was administered both at the beginning (Easter) and end (the day of Pentecost) of the Paschal season. Eventually, Pentecost became a more popular time for baptism than Easter in northern Europe.
In The First Prayer Book of Edward VI (1549), the feast was officially called Whitsunday, and this name has continued in Anglican churches since.

As recorded in the Bible, it commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and other disciples following the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2), and this marks the beginning of the Christian church’s mission to the world. The Pentecostal Fire is the ancient fire that indicated the Presence of God or the Holy Spirit appearing to bless or to judge humans.

Priests often wear red vestments during Pentecost to symbolize the “tongues of fire” that descended on the disciples from the Holy Spirit; members of the congregation also wear red in some traditions, and the altar is commonly dressed in a red frontal cloth. Red banners are often hung from walls or ceilings to symbolize the blowing of the “mighty wind” and the free movement of the Spirit.

Red flowers at the altar/preaching area, and red flowering plants such as Geraniums around the church are also typical decorations for Pentecost services. These symbolize the renewal of life, the coming of the warmth of summer, and the growth of the church at and from the first Pentecost.

In the southern hemisphere, for example, in Australia, Pentecost comes at the start of a mild autumn, often after the great heat of summer, and the red leaves of the Poinsettia are often used to decorate churches there.

For Jews, it is called Shavuot, or the Festival of Weeks. It marks their all-important wheat harvest in the Land of Israel and  commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Torah to the entire nation of Israel assembled under the leadership of Moses at Mount Sinai.  This harvest festival is seven weeks and one day after the first fruits offerings of Passover. On Passover, the people of Israel were freed from their enslavement in Egypt; on Shavuot they were given the Torah and became a nation committed to serving God.

Holy Ghost Holes.

In the Middle Ages, cathedrals and great churches throughout Western Europe were fitted with a peculiar architectural feature known as a Holy Ghost hole: a small circular opening in the roof that symbolized the entrance of the Holy Spirit into the midst of the congregation. At Pentecost, these Holy Ghost holes would be decorated with flowers, and sometimes a dove figure lowered through into the church while the narrative of Pentecost was read. Holy Ghost holes can still be seen today in European churches including Canterbury Cathedral.

If that’s a bit too tricky for some – try this simpler version, particularly with young ones. 🙂

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