Christian Holidays

Easter

•: Easter is the most important religious holiday in the Christian faith. Holy week starts on the Sunday before Easter, which is known as Palm Sunday. On this day, Christians celebrate the day Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey and was hailed as the King of Israel by the crowds. Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper, when Jesus shared his last meal with his twelve apostles. Good Friday is the most solemn day because it commemorates the trial, crucifixion, death and burial of Jesus. Easter Sunday is the most holy of Christian celebrations marking the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Lent

•: Lent begins about two months after Christmas and lasts for forty days, ending with Easter. The forty days represent the time Jesus spent facing temptations in the wilderness. Lent is a time of fasting and prayer, and spiritual self-assessment. On Ash Wednesday, the day that begins Lent, Christians are marked on the forehead with ashes to remind them that they are mortal, and will "return to dust" upon their death.

Christmas

•December 25: Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. The Christmas season is the culmination of the preparatory season called Advent, which begins four Sundays before Christmas.

Pentecost

•Originally, Pentecost was a Jewish holiday.; one of three major feasts during the Jewish year, it celebrated Thanksgiving for harvested crops. However, Pentecost for Christians means something far different. 40 days after Jesus was resurrected, Peter and the early Church were in Jerusalem for Pentecost and experienced fire from heaven and the ability to speak in tongues (see Acts Ch. 2), signaling the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Christ. For Christians, Pentecost commemorates this event.

Epiphany or Three Kings Day

January 6: Epiphany commemorates the recognition of Christ as the Son of God with the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus. In Easter Orthodoxy it also commemorates Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River.