Les anglonautes

About | Search | Grammar | Vocapedia | Learning | News podcasts | Videos | History | Arts | Science | Translate and listen

 Previous Home Up Next

 

Vocapedia > Religions, Faith > Christian calendar, Christian festivals

 

 

 

Mike Luckovich

Comment cartoon

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Cagle

20 April 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christian calendar

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/tools/calendar/faith.shtml?christian

 

 

 

 

Christianity > holy days        UK

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/

 

 

 

 

Advent

 

 

 

 

Christmas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ash Wesdneday

 

The observance,

which uses ashes

as signs of penance and mourning,

marks the start of Lent,

a time of penitence

before Easter

 

https://www.npr.org/2020/04/12/
829710366/finding-community-among-the-ashes-how-faith-reaches-across-distance

 

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/18/an-observance-of-ash-wednesday/

 

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/18/an-observance-of-ash-wednesday/

 

http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000003520700/
pope-francis-leads-ash-wednesday-mass.html
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/06/us/
francis-has-changed-catholics-attitudes-but-not-their-behavior-a-poll-finds.html

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/12/pope-ash-wednesday-mass-benedict

 

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/ash-wednesday-new-orleans/

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-03-01-pope_x.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lent

 

From Ash Wedneday

until Easter Saturday

 

Christians mark the run-up to Easter

with forty days of Giving Things Up. 

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/10/
702044961/at-lent-catholics-reflect-on-faith-as-sex-abuse-scandal-shakes-the-church

 

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/18/an-observance-of-ash-wednesday/

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/03/28/what-is-the-purpose-of-lent-2

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/opinion/if-the-pope-can-quit-catholics-can-too.html

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/apr/18/palm-sunday-pictures-around-world

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/us/20religion.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lenten season

 

 

 

 

Lenten resolutions

 

 

 

 

abstain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holy Week

 

The most solemn week of the Christian year,

 

Holy week is the week leading up to Easter,

and is the week during which Christians

particularly remember the last week of Jesus's life.

 

Holy week begins on Palm Sunday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/holyweek_1.shtml

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2016/mar/25/
holy-week-celebrations-around-the-world-in-pictures

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/
holy_week_2010.html

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/28/world/
AP-EU-Vatican-Palm-Sunday.html

 

 

 

 

Palm Sunday -  the last Sunday of Lent

 

Palm Sunday commemorates

Christ's triumphant arrival in Jerusalem

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/holyweek_1.shtml

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/apr/18/palm-sunday-pictures-around-world

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/holyweek_1.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/religion/christianity/easter.shtml

 

 

 

 

Palm Sunday procession

in St Peter's Square in the Vatican

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/apr/18/
palm-sunday-pictures-around-world

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worshippers carry a large wooden cross

along the Via Dolorosa

as they enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

during the Good Friday procession

in Jerusalem's old city on April 6, 2012.

 

Photograph:

Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images

 

Boston Globe > Big Picture > Easter and Holy Week        April 9, 2012

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/04/easter_and_holy_week.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Israeli security force stand guard

as Christian pilgrim reenacts the Passion of Christ

along the Via Dolorosa (Way of Suffering)

during a procession marking Good Friday

on April 18 in Jerusalem's old city.

 

Thousands of Christian pilgrims

take part in processions along the route where,

according to tradition,

Jesus Christ carried the cross during his last days,

as Christians around the world mark the Holy Week.

 

Photograph:

GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images

 

Boston Globe > Big Picture > Week of observances        April 18, 2014

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2014/04/week_of_observances.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Friday        UK / USA

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/25/
471847938/pope-francis-follows-easter-traditions-while-changing-some-of-them

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2015/apr/10/
orthodox-christians-jerusalem-gaza-good-friday-video

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2012/apr/06/
good-friday-around-the-world-in-pictures

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/22/us-
pope-broadcast-idUSTRE73L2E020110422

http://usatoday.feedroom.com/index.jsp?fr_story=FRdamp261419

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter        UK / USA

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/easter.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/religion/christianity/easter.shtml

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/12/
pope-francis-urges-eu-to-show-solidarity-amid-coronavirus-crisis-in-easter-message

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/12/
easter-is-a-time-to-connect-so-even-in-isolation-lets-cherish-the-ties-that-bind

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/21/
715740454/photos-easter-services-around-the-world

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/25/
471847938/pope-francis-follows-easter-traditions-while-changing-some-of-them

 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/04/05/
397624826/in-easter-address-pope-condemns-violence-against-christians

http://www.npr.org/2015/04/05/
397350707/what-you-didn-t-know-about-what-you-already-know-about-easter

 

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2014/apr/18/
easter-art-gory-disturbing-michelangelo

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/31/
pope-francis-easter-address-greed

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/03/31/
nyregion/Easter-ss.html

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/24/
david-mitchell-piss-christ-religion

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/24/
jeremy-lee-easter-recipes

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/23/us-
pope-easter-idUSTRE73M2CV20110423

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/24/us-china-
religion-idUSTRE73N0CJ20110424

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL2263612220080323

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-03-23-pope-easter_N.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-03-23-cheney-israel_N.htm 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-03-22-bush-address_N.htm

 

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/mar/31/familyandrelationships.family2

 

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/mar/29/netnotes.easter2002

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/apr/03/religion.uk 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter

 

Easter commemorates

the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 

It is the most important Christian festival,

and the one celebrated with the greatest joy.

 

The date of Easter changes each year,

and several other Christian festivals

fix their dates by reference to Easter.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/easter.shtml

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2012/apr/02/
best-chocolate-animals-easter

 

 

 

 

Easter break / weekend

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/interactive/2011/apr/21/
easter-getaway

 

 

 

 

cartoons > Cagle > Easter bunny        April 2011

http://www.cagle.com/news/EasterBunny11/main.asp

 

 

 

 

Boston Globe > Big Picture > Easter and Holy Week        April 9, 2012

 

Christians commemorated

the resurrection

of Jesus Christ on Sunday,

a holiday

that marks the end of Holy Week

and the end of Lent.

 

Observances around the world

bring a diversity of traditions

as varied as the countries celebrating.

 

Eastern Orthodox Christians

will observe Easter on April 15.

 

Gathered here

are images of Christians

during Holy Week and Easter,

including reenactments of the Crucifixion,

pilgrimages, baptisms, sunrise services,

and more.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/04/
easter_and_holy_week.html

 

 

 

 

re-enact Jesus's crucifixion in Easter ritual

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/22/
us-philippines-crucifxions-idUSTRE73L0XU20110422

 

 

 

 

 Easter Saturday

 

 

 

 

Easter Sunday

 

 

 

 

Easter weekend

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/gallery/2011/apr/24/
easter-weekend-weather-pictures

 

 

 

 

Easter Mass

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/04/20/
305167618/pope-francis-leads-easter-mass-for-thousands

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL2263612220080323

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-04-08-
pope-easter_N.htm

 

 

 

 

Easter service

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/21/715740454/photos-easter-services-around-the-world

 

 

 

 

Easter Sunday

 

the most joyous day of the Christian year,

celebrating Christ's Resurrection

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-04-08-
pope-easter_N.htm

 

 

 

 

Christ and the disciples' Last Supper > Maundy Thursday

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/17/
last-supper-scientist-maundy-thursday

 

 

 

 

Maundy money

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the Ascension / Ascension Day

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/ascension.shtml

 

 

 

 

Whitsuntide / Pentecost

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/pentecost.shtml

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2006-06-03-
pope_x.htm

 

 

 

 

November 1st > All Saints' Day

 

All Saints' Day

(also known as

All Hallows' Day or Hallowmas)

is the day after

All Hallows' Eve

(Hallowe'en).

 

It is a feast day

celebrated on November 1st

by Anglicans and Roman Catholics

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/allsaints_1.shtml

 

http://www.npr.org/2015/11/01/
453736358/in-a-shared-language-of-remembrance-whose-memories-are-ours

 

 

 

All Souls' Day

 

All Souls' Day is marked on 2nd November

(or the 3rd if the 2nd is a Sunday),

directly following All Saints' Day,

and is an opportunity for Roman Catholics

and Anglo-Catholic churches

to commemorate the faithful departed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/allsaints_2.shtml

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Prayer at Christmas

 

December 24, 2012

The New York Times

By ANN HOOD

 

Providence, R.I.

BACK when I was 8 or 9 and wanted to be a nun, I would often stop at church on my way home from school. The school sat across the street from two churches: St. Joseph’s, which we called the French church, and Sacred Heart, which is where my family went. Sacred Heart was built by and for Italian immigrants, an odd pale stucco building in the midst of rundown mill houses. I would enter and let my eyes adjust from the bright afternoon light to the dim interior. The smell of incense and candles burning permeated everything, and I liked to stand still for a moment and breathe it in before I dipped my hand into the holy water in the marble aspersorium. My wet fingers made the sign of the cross as I made my slow, reverential way down the worn maroon carpet to the altar.

I prayed a lot in those days. For straight A’s, which I got without God’s help. For a friend, since I was a lonely, peculiar child who had trouble making friends. For my father to come home from Cuba, where he was based with the Seabees. For a real Christmas tree, instead of the fake silver one with pompom tips my mother put up in my father’s absence.

These prayers were fervent, desperate. But when I went to church alone on those long-ago afternoons, I prayed just for the sake of comfort, for the peace it brought me. Sometimes a nun might appear in her habit and allow me to scrape the melted candle wax from the marble. I imagined, briefly, a life of devotion like that. A swishing black dress and a giant wooden crucifix swinging from my rosary beads.

That fantasy disappeared eventually, along with the ritual of churchgoing. I didn’t get the same sense of peace at Sunday Mass. For reasons I can’t remember, my family eventually stopped attending church, and I started questioning the Catholic Church’s beliefs. I dabbled a little, but nothing stuck.

So I was surprised when I was struck with a desire to go to church earlier this month. Not a Mass, but inside a church, where I might pray quietly and alone. In my adult life, I had spent a lot of time angry at God, mostly over the sudden deaths in my family — my brother at 30, my daughter at 5. This year we’d suffered another sudden loss, a favorite aunt killed in a car accident. Why on this December afternoon I felt the need to check in with God, I cannot say. Maybe a conversation with a friend who spoke about going to church when her daughter was ill, or maybe the appearance of Christmas lights and decorations around town.

Whatever the reason, I walked to a Catholic church a few blocks from my home in Providence. The afternoon was chilly. Boughs of evergreen draped across the wrought-iron gate. I climbed the steps to the front door and pulled. Locked. I walked around to the side. Then the other side. Then the back. All locked. There were other churches, I thought. Plenty of them.

I went home and got in my car and drove from church to church to church. All of them were locked. With each locked door, my need to get inside and pray grew. I felt it was imperative, that if a person needed to go to church and pray, she should be able to do that. All the things I wanted to pray about washed over me. I wanted to explain to God why I’d been so angry. I wanted to apologize for things I’d done wrong. I wanted to put in a good word for my son, and for my daughter, and for my mother’s health, and for a dozen other things. But six, then seven churches were locked.

When I told my husband, he looked confused. I was not a religious person, after all. “It’s expensive to keep them open,” he, the churchgoer in our family, explained. “But what about truly desperate people?” I insisted. “It’s probably not safe to keep them open like that,” he said. Then he added, “Maybe in bigger cities?”

The next day, I was in New York City. The weather had turned as warm as spring, and after a lunch in Midtown I decided to take a walk. The mild temperature made me forget that it was Christmastime, and I was surprised to see a line of people in front of Saks Fifth Avenue waiting to see its window displays. I joined them. Then I crossed the street to stare up at the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center and smile at the white angels blowing their trumpets in front of it.

As I turned to walk to the subway, a sign caught my eye: ST. PATRICK’S IS OPEN. I read it again. ST. PATRICK’S IS OPEN. Although I quickly realized the sign was there because of all the scaffolding around the church, I still couldn’t help but feel that it was also there just for me.

A church that was open! I crossed the street and went inside. The grandeur of St. Patrick’s is nothing like the little stucco church of my childhood in West Warwick, R.I. And even on a Tuesday afternoon, it was crowded with tourists. But the candles flickered, and the smell of wax and incense filled me. I dipped my fingers in the holy water, and walked slowly up the long center aisle to the altar. Around me, people snapped pictures of the manger with their phones. A woman holding a baby in a Santa suit rushed past me. When I got to the front pew, I lowered the kneeler, and I knelt. I bowed my head and I prayed.

In the years since I’d done this simple act in church, I have prayed at home and in hospital waiting rooms. I have prayed for my daughter to live, for the bad news to not be true, for strength in the face of adversity. I have prayed with more desperation than a person should feel. I have prayed in vain.

This prayer, though, was different. It was a prayer from my girlhood, a prayer for peace and comfort and guidance. It was a prayer of gratitude. It was a prayer that needed to be done in church, in a place where candles flicker and statues of saints look down from on high; where sometimes, out of nowhere, the spiritually confused can still come inside and kneel and feel their words might rise up and be heard.

 

Ann Hood is the author, most recently, of “The Red Thread”

and the forthcoming novel “The Obituary Writer.”

A Prayer at Christmas,
NYT, 24.12.2012,
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/
opinion/a-prayer-at-christmas.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related > Anglonautes > Vocapedia

 

religion / faith, abuse, violence, extremism,

secularism, atheism

 

 

time > Christmas > Nativity story

 

 

time > Christmas

 

 

time > Christmas > Ornaments / crèches / presents / tree

 

 

death

 

 

 

home Up