Pentecost 2028

What is Pentecost?

Pentecost, also called Whit Sunday, commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles fifty days after Easter, as described in the Acts of the Apostles. In the account, the apostles gathered in Jerusalem heard a sound like a rushing wind, saw tongues of fire and began to speak in other languages, so that visitors from many countries could understand them. Christians regard the day as the birthday of the church. For Orthodox Christians the same event is celebrated as Pentecost, a major feast with kneeling prayers on the evening of the day.

The name comes from the Greek word for fiftieth. The feast ends the Easter season, and its liturgical colour is red in Catholic and many Protestant churches. Customs vary widely: in parts of Europe, churches and houses are decorated with fresh birch branches, in England Whitsun was long associated with white clothes and church processions, and in Romania the Orthodox Pentecost is a major religious and family holiday. In Romania and other Orthodox countries, the Pentecost Sunday and Monday are national holidays called Rusalii, and churches are decorated with green branches and flowers. In Hungary, the holiday is called Pünkösd, and in Finland Helluntai. Many places also hold spring festivals.

Why it is observed

The celebration of the fiftieth day after Easter is attested in the early church, and by the fourth century Pentecost was firmly established as the close of the Easter season. The Christian feast overlaps with the Jewish festival of Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, which falls fifty days after Passover and which, according to Acts, was the occasion on which the apostles were gathered. In many countries, the Sunday is accompanied by a holiday on the following Monday, which gave the festival its long weekend in the modern era. Jewish tradition places the giving of the Torah at Shavuot.

How the date is set

Pentecost falls 49 days after Easter Sunday, which is the fiftieth day of Eastertide counting Easter Sunday as day one, so it is always a Sunday. On the Western calendar it falls between 10 May and 13 June. Orthodox churches count from Orthodox Easter, so their Pentecost is later.

How it is observed

Pentecost Sunday is a public holiday in several countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden, although it falls on a Sunday and so is mostly noticed as a day of closed shops and church services. In Orthodox countries, the date follows Orthodox Easter and is often later. The Monday after Pentecost is a separate holiday in many other countries. Pay and substitute days depend on the country and the contract. Because Pentecost falls on a Sunday, the Monday is the day most travellers feel.