Dear ciao,
There are two important religious feasts by the name of Pentacost, a
Jewish and a Christian one. I will try to answer your question for
both of them.
Pentecost as a Christian Feast is, in English-speaking countries,
known as Whitsun or Whitsunday today. In German, it is called
Pfingsten, Pentecôte in French, Pentecostés in Spanish, and Pascha
rossa or alternatively Pascha rosatum in Italy. The English Whitsun
comes from the white garments worn by those who were baptized during
the feast. In German, French and Spanish, the names derive directly
from the Greek term Pentecost. The Italian names originate from the
Paschal period, which is closed by Pentecost, and the red colours of
the vestments used on Whitsunday.
It is celebrated 50 days (49 days, to be exact; but the name referring
to the Jewish religious calendar was kept) after Easter Sunday, hence
its name: "Pentekost" is Greek and means "the fiftieth" (day after
Easter). The Christian Whitsun feast has, of course, not been
celebrated in Jesus' days. It appeared in the first century AD to
commemorate the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, which
happened according to Christian tradition on the Jewish feast of
Pentecost (see below), fifty days after Jesus resurrected.
Apart from numerous local folksy ways of celebrating Pentecost in all
parts of the world, normally without real explicit religious
background, the Christian Feast is solemnise entirely by special
church services in many variations.
The Jewish feast Pentecost is something different. The term
"Pentekost" was used by Greek-speaking Jews in Hellenistic times,
since it was celebrated fifty days after the Jewish Pesach (Passover)
Feast. It has three traditional names with different backgrounds:
- Shavuot, "The Feast of Weeks", because a week of weeks (seven weeks)
divides Pesach from Pentecost.
- Hag ha-Bikkurim, "The Feast of First-Fruits", because on this day
fruits from the year's first harvest were brought to be offered in the
Temple.
- Hag Matan Torah, "The Feast of the Giving of the Law", celebrating
the giving of the Law to Moses by Jehovah.
In Jesus' time, Jewish Pentecost was celebrated on a religious and a
popular level. The religious celebration included forbiddance of all
servile work and offering an oblation consisting of two loaves of
leavened bread made from two-tenths of an ephah (about seven quarts
and a fifth) of flour from the new wheat in the Temple, which were
handled in a special ceremony: The bread was not placed on the altar
but waved in front of it. After that, one loaf was given to the High
Priest, the other was divided among the priests who ate it within the
sacred precincts. Two yearling lambs were also offered as a
peace-offering, and a buck-goat for sin, together with a holocaust of
seven lambs without blemish, one calf, and two rams.
On the popular level, the Pentecost Feast was a time of social and
joyful gatherings. From the New Testament we also know that it was,
much like Pesach, an occasion for many Jews from all parts of the
world to come to Jerusalem and attend the celebrations there.
Today, pious Jews pass the Feast's eve by reading the Law and other
adequate scriptures to then celebrate the giving of the Law to Moses
in the early hours of the day. Many homes and Synagogues are decorated
with flowers and branches of greenery for the feast. Pentecost is
celebrated over two days, a tradition deriving from the difficulties
Jews living in the Diaspora had to exactly determine the Feast's date.
A certain variety of customs developed around modern Pentecost, but
there are almost no real rituals, since it is not as popular as Feasts
like Pesach or Sukkot: Cheese- and curdcakes are served, holiday
candles are lighted, and special services are celebrated in the
synagogues. Some Jewish communities choose Pentecost for the
Confimation Konfirmation (Kabbalat Mitzwa or Ben/Bat-Thora) of the
young ones.
Sources:
New Advent: Catholic Encyclopedia - Pentecost (Whitsunday)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15614b.htm
New Advent: Catholic Encyclopedia - Pentecost (Jewish Feast)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11661a.htm
Arimathea: Pentecost, by David Chorlton
http://www.orthodox.co.uk/pentecos.htm
B'nai B'rith Augustin Keller Loge: Jüdische Feiertage - Schawuot (in
German)
http://www.juden.ch/juedische1.htm#Schawuot
Union progressiver Juden: Schawuot - das Wochenfest im progressiven
Judentum (in German)
http://www.liberale-juden.de/de/leben022.htm
Hope this answers your question!
Regards,
Scriptor |
