Many baptisms take place at this time, and the term Whitsun is said to originate from the fact that the newly baptized would habitually wear white.
- Choose two other Christian Festivals and explain the importance they might have in the life of a Christian?
Many would say that the most important Festival of all time in the Christian calendar would have to be Easter. Easter is a succession of a chain of events that begin with Shrove Tuesday and theoretically end after Easter Monday, the dates of many other important events are also directly related to Easter. The most important events of Easter take place during Holy Week, which is a dedication to a remembrance of the suffering and death of Jesus. Palm Sunday begins Holy Week, and in many places around the world palm leaves are still used to mark this event. The cycle of Easter ends on Easter Monday, which is said to be the day that Jesus rose from the dead. Easter commemorates the resurrection of Christ and is the most joyous festival for many Christians.
Another Holy day that could be celebrated by Christians in the Roman Catholic Church is that of Corpus Christi. Derived from the Latin ‘body of Christ’ this falls the Thursday after Trinity Sunday and is a day of Thanksgiving for Holy Communion. This festival would have very little importance in the life of for example, and Anglican or a Methodist, because this is not an event that they celebrate, but that does not make any less important to the Catholics who celebrate it.
- All Christian Festivals are of equal importance. Do you agree?
I believe that all Christian Festivals are not of equal importance, as the example above shows. There are a great number of events that are celebrated by all denominations of Christianity but only certain branches celebrate many special days. This makes them less important to a denomination that does not acknowledge a particular event, yet they may be a valued part of worship for another. Therefore it must be said that all Christian Festivals may be important to someone.
However, in the Christian Calendar, many denominations of Christianity acknowledge that some festivals are more important than others, this may be why some are celebrated and some are not. For example all churches seem to agree that Easter is one of the most important times for their church and for Christianity, and yet the general public celebrate Christmas in a more widespread manner. Many would argue that this is down to the commercialisation of Christmas and that Christmas no longer has anything at all to do with the birth of Christ our Lord. The Anglican church follows very little about the aspects concerning Mary Mother of God and yet the Roman Catholics, base a great deal of their beliefs upon her life, and have a number of Holy days just acknowledging the actions of Mary. Other Churches may not but this does not make them any less important.
However on a ranking scale, Mary was the Mother of Jesus, therefore any festivals relating to her life, would be generally overshadowed by the events that took place in Jesus’ life. On this aspect it could be said that, for example, Christmas, would be more important to most Christians than The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary which is only celebrated in the Catholic Church.
