Added: 11/09/2007 |
Celebration Of Pentecost Day By ChristiansA festive occasion for the Christians is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter Sunday which is the tenth day after Ascension Thursday. The Pentecost day is the shortest season in the Christian calendar that only lasts for one week. It celebrates the time when the supporters and the early apostles were filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit and enabled to go out into the entire world to proclaim the good news.
It is described mainly in Deuteronomy 16:8-10 and Leviticus 23:5-21. As in Leviticus the Passover begins “in the fourteenth day of the first month at even", and the next day begins "the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord" which lasts for seven days where work and business is prohibited. This celebration is also because of the harvested crop and fruits. The fruits are then presented into the Temple to eat and to enjoy the festival.
Deuteronomy (16:8-10) states:
“Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work therein./ Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number seven weeks from such time as thou beginest to put the sickle unto the corn./ And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.”
On the other hand, verses 15 and 16 state:
“And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete:/ Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbaths shall ye number fifty days and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.”
The new meat offering consisted in two loaves made from the new wheat which is to be waved. Sacrifices for the feast consisted of the sacrifice of one kid of a goat for a sin offering, seven lambs without blemish of the first year, two rams which is the burnt offering, one young bullock and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
The Pentecost day can be seen parallel to Shavuot day. The Christians on the Pentecost day celebrate the founding of the Church, giving the Law by God on the Mount Sinai and the judgment day (which some people believes the harvested wheat and fruits itself). The symbols of Pentecost are those of the Holy Spirit and include wind, flames, the breath of God and a Dove. The Pentecost day is celebrated with joy and warmly by all the Christians in the entire world, where Churches are filled with people praying and looking for God’s acceptance and blessings. Hymns sung at Pentecost take the Holy Spirit as their theme, and consist of:
•Come down O Love Divine
•Come Holy Ghost our souls inspire
•Breathe on me breath of God
•O Breath of Life, come sweeping through us
•There's a spirit in the air
•Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me
Pentecost is celebrated across the entire Europe in their own unique ways:
•In Italy it was normal to scatter rose leaves from the ceiling of the churches to recall the miracle of the flaming tongues.
•At Vespers of Pentecost in the Oriental Churches the extraordinary service of genuflexion, accompanied by elongated poetical prayers and psalms takes place. The Russians carry flowers and green branches in their hands.
•In England people amused themselves with horse races. The Whitsun Ales or merrymakings are almost wholly obsolete in England. At these ales the Whitsun plays were performed.
•In France it was customary to blow trumpets during Divine service, to evoke the sound of the mighty wind which accompanied the Descent of the Holy Spirit.
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