Whitsun

Pentecost is one of the most important Christian holidays. It commemorates an event believed to have taken place in Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago. Several of Jesus’ disciples had gathered there for the Jewish festival of Shavuot. Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, is celebrated in Judaism 50 days after Passover, which in turn commemorates the Jews’ exodus from slavery in Egypt. Shavuot is also a time to remember the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, as described in the Old Testament. It is also a harvest festival. The Bible tells what the disciples of Jesus are said to have experienced that day: Suddenly a sound like a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them. The Apostle Peter is said to have preached afterward, urging everyone to be baptized in the name of Jesus and to receive the Holy Spirit, who had been sent by Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles goes on to report that about 3,000 people were baptized that day. Since then, the day has been regarded as the founding day of the Christian Church. The word Pentecost comes from the ancient Greek word pentēkostē, which referred to the fiftieth day after Passover.

Whit Monday is a public holiday in Germany, Austria, much of Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Hungary and Denmark. Over the centuries, different Pentecost customs have developed in different places. In Lower Saxony, for example, young birch trees are cut down and planted in front of people’s doors as “Pentecost trees”. This custom probably dates back to the Germanic people, who used it to ward off evil spirits. In some areas, “Pentecost oxen” are decorated and led to pasture at the head of a herd of cows and cattle. In the Bergisches Land, there is “Pentecost singing”, where young men go from house to house collecting eggs, bacon and other gifts. In the Bavarian Forest, young people also go around singing mocking songs outside some houses, where the residents then throw water over them. This custom is called “water bird singing”. In the County of Bentheim in Lower Saxony, children sometimes decorate a “Pingstekron”. They stand with it, stretch a rope across the road and ask pedestrians and cyclists for a “Deut”, a coin. However, they never say what they do with the money afterwards.