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Facts About Pentecost Sunday:

1. The word "Pentecost" comes from the Greek word for “50th” (pentecoste). The reason is that Pentecost is the 50th day (Greek, pentecoste hemera) after Easter Sunday (on the Christian calendar). This name came into use in the late Old Testament period and was inherited by the authors of the New Testament.

2. In the Old Testament, Pentecost is referred to by several names:

The feast of Weeks
The feast of Harvest
The day of First-Fruits
Today in Jewish circles it is known as Shavu`ot (Hebrew, “weeks”).

It goes by various names in different languages.

In England (and English), it has also been known as “Whitsunday” (White Sunday). This name is presumably derived from the white baptismal garments of those recently baptized.

3. In The Old Testament, Pentecost was a harvest festival, signifying the end of the grain harvest. Deuteronomy 16 states:
You shall count seven weeks; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain.
Then you shall keep the feast of weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God [Deuteronomy 16:9-11a].

4. In The New Testament, Pentecost represents the fulfillment of Christ's promise from the end of Luke's Gospel:

Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high [Luke 24:46-49].

This “clothing with power” comes with the bestowal of the Holy Spirit upon the Church.

5. Many Christians recognize Pentecost as the birth, or the birthday of the church as it commemorates the establishment of the church as a result of the Apostles’ teachings on the gospel and the baptism of thousands of followers. Pentecost is when the Apostles went out among the people and began spreading Jesus’ message, thus establishing the beginning of the church. With the decent of the Holy Spirit, a New Covenant is inaugurated. It is one of the most ancient feasts in the Church, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (20:16) and Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.

6. Pentecost comes 10 days after The Ascension Of Christ. Before Jesus was crucified, He told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come after Him. Jesus said: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:16-18). Just as Jesus said, 40 days after the resurrection (10 days after He ascended into heaven), the promise was fulfilled when Peter and the early Church were in Jerusalem for Pentecost.

7. Dairy is always eaten on Pentecost because the Torah is referred to as the milk of the Word.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3: “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?”
1 Peter 2:2 tells us, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
Hebrews 5:12, “Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food!”

8. Greeneries and flowers are used to decorate because it is believed that the wilderness around Mt Sinai bloomed with flowers and grass at the giving of the Torah

9. Pentecost was originally a Jewish festival
It was one of the “great three festivals” that took place each year in ancient Israel: Pesach (meaning Passover), the feast of the Unleavened Bread; Shavuot (Weeks or Pentecost), the feast of the first harvest of the grain (wheat); and Sukkot (Tabernacles, Tents or Booths), the festival of ingathering which marked the end of the harvest season. These three occasions are identified as recurring annual festivals at Exodus 23:14-17 and again at Deuteronomy 16:16-17.

10. Pentecost symbolises two key things in Judaism
The prescriptions for Shavuot, the festival of Pentecost, are set out in the Hebrew Bible. Exodus 34:22 states that it marks the all-important wheat harvest in Israel; Leviticus 23:15-22 sets out the requirements for celebrating this festival. Its importance as an agricultural festival is thus clear. Alongside that, as Jewish tradition developed, Pentecost became the anniversary of the giving of the Law; the day when God gave the Torah (the Law) to the whole nation of Israel, assembled at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:1–20:21).

11. The people gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost when the spirit came were all Jews
Acts 2:5 makes this clear; those present were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. They were not Gentiles. Luke and Acts persistently make it crystal clear that the Gospel was intended for the whole world—Jews and Gentiles alike (Luke 2:30-32, 3:6, 24:47; Acts 1:8, 2:17, 9:15, 10:34-43, 11:18, 13:47, 14:27, 15:7, 22:21, 26:17-23, 28:28). Nevertheless, this event is one that gathers only Jews.

However…

12. Acts 2 does symbolise that the Gospel is for all the world
The people noted in Acts 2 were Jews who had come from every nation, spread right across the ancient Mediterranean world. In this sense, they represented the Gentiles, as, even though they were Jews, they were living in the Dispersion, amongst Gentiles, and they came from those nations that were predominantly Gentile. These faithful Jews had gathered in Jerusalem because it was the place where the Temple was based; it was the centre of Jewish faith.

But more than this, Jerusalem was also considered to be the centre of the world, according to ancient Jewish traditions. Jewish maps from long ago through into the early medieval period regularly locate Jerusalem at the centre, and show the nations spreading out from it in all directions.

So, in Acts 2, Jews come from the east (Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia), north (Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia), west (Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, and Cretans) and south (Arabs).

Indeed, it could well be that, for the author of Acts, this scene provides a fulfilment of the eschatological prophecy about “the gathering of the nations” on Mount Zion (Isa 2:2-4, 11:12, 42:1-6, 62:1-2, 66:18-24).

13. Pentecost is important because it proves that Christianity didn’t stop with Christ and that the disciples of Jesus were seen as worthy to spread the message of God, which is why He sent the Holy Spirit to gift them the ability to speak many languages. This showed that not only were they worthy of spreading God’s message, but because Jesus’ apostles were chosen specifically, they were able to spread the words of Jesus too.

Pentecost is also believed to be the point where the Christian church started and broke away from the Jewish faith, basing its beliefs more on Jesus Christ and His teachings rather than on Jewish laws or doctrine.

14. An Italian Pentecost tradition is to scatter rose leaves from the ceiling of the churches to recall the miracle of the fiery tongues, and so in some places in Italy, Pentecost is sometimes called Pascha Rosatum (Easter roses).

15. In France, it is tradition to blow trumpets during Mass to recall the sound of the driving wind of the Holy Spirit.

16. In Asia, it is typical to have an extra service, called genuflexion, during which long poems and prayers are recited. In Russia, Mass-goers often carry flowers or green branches during Pentecost services.

17. In some parts of the world, Pentecost is also referred to as “WhitSunday”, or White Sunday, referring to the white vestments that are typically worn in Britain and Ireland. The white is symbolic of the dove of the Holy Spirit, and typical of the vestments that catechumens desiring baptism wear on that day.

18. In Finland there is a saying known virtually by everyone which translates as "if one has no sweetheart until Pentecost, he/she will not have it during the whole summer."

19. In Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, people originating from Pentecost Island usually celebrate their island's name-day with a special church service followed by cultural events such as dancing.

20. As one of the most important solemnities on the Church's calendar, Pentecost has a rich depth of meaning, but here is how Pope Benedict summarized it in 2012:

This Solemnity makes us remember and relive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and the other disciples gathered in prayer with the Virgin Mary in the Upper Room (cf. Acts 2:1-11). Jesus, risen and ascended into Heaven, sent his Spirit to the Church so that every Christian might participate in his own divine life and become his valid witness in the world. The Holy Spirit, breaking into history, defeats aridity, opens hearts to hope, stimulates and fosters in us an interior maturity in our relationship with God and with our neighbour.

🙏 🕊 A Prayer For Pentecost Sunday 🙏 🕊:

🙏 🕊 Oh God, on this day, you taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending them the light of your Holy Spirit.

By that same Spirit, give us a right judgment in all things that we may always rejoice in His holy comfort;

through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and forever. Amen 🙏 🕊

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