During Holy Week, Christians recall the events leading up to Jesus’ death by crucifixion and, according to their faith, his Resurrection. The week includes five days of special significance. The first is Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus’ humble entry (on a donkey) into Jerusalem to observe Passover.
Holy Week in Spain | |
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Type | Religious, Historical, Cultural |
Significance | Commemoration of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus |
Celebrations | Processions |
Begins | Palm Sunday |
The Seventh-Day Adventist Church, a Protestant Christian denomination, does not observe the practices of the Holy Week as Catholics or other Protestant denominations do.
Holy Week | |
---|---|
Type | Christian |
Observances | Palm Sunday, Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday |
Date | Last week of Lent |
2020 date | April 5 – April 11 (Western) April 12 – April 18 (Eastern) |
In Western Christianity, Easter is preceded by Lent, a period of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter, which begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts 40 days (not counting Sundays). The week before Easter, known as Holy Week, is very special in the Christian tradition.
For millions of people around the world, Easter falls on Sunday 2 May 2021. Orthodox Christians in Europe, Africa and the Middle East celebrate Easter later than most in the western world. It’s because they use a different calendar to work out what day Easter should fall on.
Filipinos in the Philippines go to church on Palm Sunday to attend Mass and have their woven palm fronds (palaspas) blessed by the priest. The ritual of waving palm leaves as the priest approaches the church is a reenactment of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem.
Good Friday occurs two days before Easter Sunday in the United States. It is the day when Christians commemorate Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, which plays an important part in the Christian faith. It is not a federal holiday in the United States, although it is a state holiday in some states.
Holy Week in the Philippines (Filipino: Mahal na Araw; Spanish: Semana Santa) is a significant religious observance for the country’s Catholic majority, the Iglesia Filipina Independiente or the Philippine Independent Church and most Protestant groups.
Catholic and Protestant communities celebrate Palm Sunday. (The Orthodox Christian community celebrates later as they follow the Julian calendar.) This marks the beginning of Holy Week, historically the most sacred time of year for Christians.
Denominations. The most famous Christian groups to commonly reject Easter are: the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Messianic Jewish groups (also known as Hebrew-Christians), Armstrong Movement churches, many Puritan-descended Presbyterians, and Jehovah? s Witnesses.
What Holy Week means for Christians today. Holy Week is important as it reminds Christians of God’s sacrifice of his son, and also God’s love for his people. Christians can learn much about Jesus through the last week of his life. Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar.
Churches throughout Mexico are beautifully decorated for special services, where people receive palms. The main attraction in some towns and villages is a procession that reenacts the story of Jesus arriving on a donkey in Jerusalem.
The Holy Week in Popayán, Cauca (Colombia), is the celebration of the Passion and death of Jesus Christ through daily processions continuously performed since the sixteenth century between Good Friday nights and Holy Saturday. This parade takes place in the ancient streets of the “White City”.
Pasqua
Easter, or Pasqua in Italian, is a festive holiday throughout Italy. Religious parades and celebrations are held in many towns and cities nationwide. A statue of Jesus or his mother Mary is carried in street processions that involve large crowds of people. Easter meals vary, but include eggs, Easter pie, and lamb.
Easter in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and its diaspora communities, is a day when people celebrate; there is a release of enjoyment after the long build-up of suffering which has taken place, to represent Christ’s fasting for forty days and forty nights.
The five evangelical feasts or feast days are Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. Most Continental Reformed churches continued to celebrate these feast days while largely discarding the rest of the liturgical calendar and emphasizing weekly celebration of the Lord’s Day.
On Monday, January 6, 2020, Dominican families will celebrate Three Kings’ Day by giving their children gifts. Children in Spain and Latin America are instructed to leave their shoes by the door of their house so, like Santa Claus, the three kings can come and leave them presents.
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