What is Pentecost?

Spring is rich with Christian holidays, and one of them is Pentecost. Although many take the day off, the church celebrates one of the most important events in the history of Christianity. But what are you really celebrating? And why is it called Pentecost? Get the answer to all of that here.

Pentecost is one of the most important holidays in Christianity because here Christians celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the church.

In this article, you will get answers to all your questions about Pentecost. You can read about the history of Pentecost, the traditions, the Holy Spirit and much more.

What is Pentecost?

Pentecost is a Christian holiday and one of the many spring holidays.

Pentecost falls both after Easter, when Jesus was crucified, died and rose again, and after the ascension of Christ, when he ascended into heaven.

Before Jesus ascended into heaven at the ascension of Christ, he promised his disciples that the Holy Spirit would descend to baptize them and empower them to preach the Christian message, and it is the descent of the Holy Spirit that Christians celebrate on Pentecost.

Pentecost falls seven weeks, or 49 days, after Easter and 10 days after Christ's ascension. Since Easter follows the lunar cycle, the date of these feasts changes each year. However, Pentecost always falls in May or June.

Pentecost comes from the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which was originally a harvest festival. Since then, Shavuot has taken on a more theological meaning, and now Jews celebrate that Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and made a covenant with God. The holiday falls on Pentecost. Unconventional interesting facts about Pentecost can be read here: https://fyens.dk/artikel/hvad-i-alverden-er-pinse.

What happened on Pentecost?

The main source of the story of Pentecost is found in Acts chapter 2 of the New Testament. When Jesus ascended into heaven 10 days before, he told the disciples that they should wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came down and empowered them. Suddenly there was a sound like a strong gust of wind, and the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of tongues of fire, which were distributed among the disciples and enabled them to speak in a way that everyone could understand, regardless of their native language.

Peter then began to preach to the Jewish people, where he told them that the Holy Spirit had descended, as predicted in the Old Testament. He also told them about Jesus and that he was the expected Messiah. After Peter's sermon, everyone in the congregation was convinced and asked what they should do. Peter told them to be baptized and they were baptized. It was three thousand people who were all converted and thus formed the first Christian congregation.

Why do Christians celebrate Pentecost?

On Pentecost, Christians celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the church. The Holy Spirit is central to the Christian faith. The Holy Spirit is part of the Christian Trinity and is understood by many as God's presence in the world.

The coming of the Holy Spirit was already foretold in the Old Testament, among others in the book of Joel, chapter 3, and this prophecy is repeated in several places in the Bible. When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, it made it possible to preach the Christian message.Before man built the tower of Babel, everyone spoke the same language. The purpose of the tower was to reach heaven, and God punished this by giving all the nations different languages so that they could not understand each other and thus did not build the tower.

With the descent of the Holy Spirit, it became possible again to communicate with each other through God and thus spread the Christian message. Therefore, the power of the Holy Spirit was an absolutely necessary tool in the preaching of the Christian message, and it made possible the founding of the first Christian congregation on the day of Pentecost. For this reason, Pentecost is also the birthday of the church.

How is Pentecost celebrated?

There are no longer strong popular traditions associated with Pentecost, but since the mid-1800s there has been a tradition in many places in the country to "see the Pentecost sun dance". According to tradition, you must see the morning sun either by getting up very early or by walking around all night.

Many Christian holidays are associated with some special food traditions, such as the Christmas duck, the Easter lamb and warm wheat on the great days of prayer. However, for a long time, there was no food tradition associated with Pentecost. The former and now late Bishop of the Diocese of Roskilde, Jan Lindhardt, tried to change this. In 1999, in cooperation with Foreningen Fiskebranchen, he tried to make fish the food for Pentecost, and every year a fish is chosen for Pentecost.

It is no coincidence that fish is sold in connection with Pentecost. Fish has a central symbolic meaning in Christianity. Some Catholics pray the Pentecostal promises during the nine days between the ascension of Christ and Pentecost.

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