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Static Holy Days in Christianity:
As humans order or arrange the physical
space in which they live, for example, their homes, neighborhoods, and
cities, they also have a propensity for ordering time. Most Christian
denominations utilize a calendar that has evolved over two millennium
in which the year is divided into several seasons, beginning with
Advent, the period of four weeks leading up to Christmas. Each of the
seasons is associated with a specific color, as well as certain
Biblical texts or themes that give focus to public worship and private
prayer. Like all calendars, the liturgical
calendar is based on recurring seasons in nature: fall, winter,
spring, and summer, marked out by the movement of the sun (solar
calendars of 365 days) or the phases of the moon (lunar calendars, 12
months of 28 days). The calendar of the Christian church makes use of
both kinds and for this reason can be somewhat confusing as holidays
based on the solar calendar like Christmas always occur on the same
date each year whereas holidays based on the lunar calendar like
Easter occur on different dates each year, reflecting the cycles of
the moon.
The liturgical calendar was developed
over many centuries, appropriating rituals common to many cultures, to
tell the story of Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection as the
pattern not only for the life of the Church and its worship, but also
the progress of the individual believer toward union with God. At one
level, the seasons of the Christian year are ordered around the life
and work of Jesus, beginning with Advent and Christmas. The Christmas season is one of twelve
days, ending with Epiphany, which marks the coming of the magi to the
stable in Bethlehem where Jesus was born. Epiphany extends for a period of 4 to 9
weeks in which the believer follows the major events of Christ's life,
from his baptism which marks the start of his public ministry and
ending with Ash Wednesday. During Lent, Christians follow Christ
toward the culminating days of Holy Week and Easter in which his
confrontation with the "powers and principalities" of this world came
to a climax in his death, and then, the resurrection. Following Easter, Christians remember
the relatively short period during which the risen Christ appeared to
the disciples on earth. According to the creeds, he then "ascended"
into heaven; the church was not abandoned by God, however, but rather
was blessed by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost Sunday celebrates that
presence in the life of the church and is followed by a season of 24
weeks, often referred to as "ordinary time," in which both the church
and the individual believer focus on the work they are called to do in
the world as the living "body of Christ." Source: Godweb.org
Epiphany:
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here Jan-6 celebrates
the visitation of the 3 wise men to Jesus after his birth.
Christmas
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here Jesus' birth. It
is celebrated on Dec-25 by Western churches and on Jan-7 the following
year by Eastern Orthodox churches.
Advent
Sunday:
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here (Called
the First Sunday of Advent) is the first day of an
approximately 40 day period of preparation for Christmas. Lent:
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here A period of
fasting and prayer, begins on Ash Wednesday, 40 days
before Easter Sunday. Palm
Sunday :
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here Seven days
before Easter Sunday; it is the beginning of Holy Week. Holy
Thursday, or Maundy Thursday:
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here In memory of the
Last Supper. Good
Friday, or (Holy Friday)
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here Remembers the
death of Jesus
Easter
Sunday celebrates the resurrection of
Jesus.
Ascension Thursday, (Ascension Day)
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here 40 days after
Easter Sunday; it commemorates the ascension of Jesus into heaven. Pentecost,:
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here 7th Sunday after
Easter, the day when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles.
The first day of
Advent is the Sunday which is closest to November 30; it foretells
the coming of Christmas.
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here
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