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Concept
Pentecost
Summary
Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Virgin Mary and the Apostles of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1–31).
Pentecost is one of the Great feasts in the Eastern Orthodox Church, a Solemnity in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, a Festival in the Lutheran Churches, and a Principal Feast in the Anglican Communion. Many Christian denominations provide a special liturgy for this holy celebration. Since its date depends on the date of Easter, Pentecost is a "moveable feast". The Monday after Pentecost is a legal holiday in many European, African and Caribbean countries.
The term Pentecost comes from the Greek Πεντηκοστή (Pentēkostē), meaning "fiftieth". It refers to the Jewish festival of Shavuot celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover. It is also known as the "Feast of Weeks" and the "Feast of 50 days" in rabbinic tradition.
The Septuagint uses the term Pentēkostē to refer to the "Feast of Pentecost" twice; in the Book of Tobit and 2 Maccabees, which for Catholics are part of the Bible but for Protestants are deuterocanonical/apocryphal books in the Bible. The term Pentecost appears in the Septuagint as one of the names for the Festival of Weeks.
The Septuagint translators also used the word in two other senses: to signify the year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:10) an event which occurs every 50th year, and in several passages of chronology as an ordinal number. The term has also been used in the literature of Hellenistic Judaism by Philo of Alexandria and Josephus.
The native English word Whitsunday, "White Sunday" (Hwita Sunnandæg), probably derives from the white robes worn by the newly baptized on Pentecost. The weekend or week including Pentecost are also called Whitsun or Whitsuntide, which arose from redividing Whitsunday as Whitsun day.
Official source
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