Holy Week

Holy Week is a series of special religious observances that together make up what is considered to be the most sacred week of the year for Christians. A moveable observance that is celebrated in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, Holy Week follows the forty-day Lenten season and immediately precedes Easter Sunday. The major observances of Holy Week include Palm Sunday, Holy (Maundy) Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. On each of these days, faithful Christians attend unique services that commemorate the Passion of Jesus Christ, or the pivotal final week in the life of Christ that culminated in his crucifixion, death, and resurrection. These services are typically the largest and most elaborate of the entire year. While they do not typically feature distinct services, the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Holy Week are also generally considered to be sacred. Holy Week ultimately concludes at dawn on Easter Sunday, the day on which Christians believe that Christ rose from the dead to become their savior.

Background

Holy Week begins at the conclusion of Lent, an extended solemn season during which Christians typically take time to reflect on their faith, acknowledge their shortcomings, and vow to live a life that is more in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Traditionally, the observance of Lent has always involved some form of fasting or abstention from certain activities. In the earliest days of the Church, reverent Christians fasted from all food and drink between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. This practice was eventually adapted when the idea of Lent first arose about nine hundred years after the time of Jesus Christ. During that period of Church history, there was a general consensus that the Easter season should be preceded by a forty-day time of prayer and repentance. The specific span of forty days was chosen as a nod to the forty days that Christ spent in the desert contemplating his future just before he began his ministry. Since that time, Lent has remained a key part of the Christian calendar.

Although full fasting is no longer a common practice, most Christians still undertake some form of fasting during Lent. Traditionally, this meant giving up foods like meat, fish, fats, and eggs. In modern times, many Christians choose to give up luxury or snack foods such as chocolate or other desserts. Some also give up activities like consuming alcohol or using social media. Because Lent is a long period of abstinence, it is typically preceded by a day of indulgence when people eat all the foods they will be giving up for Lent. This day is known as Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday and is also when many cultures celebrate events like Mardi Gras. The following day, Lent officially commences with the observance of Ash Wednesday. On Ash Wednesday, churchgoers attend a special mass, during which priests mark their foreheads with ash made from the palms used at the previous year’s Palm Sunday. The ash mark is meant to be a symbol of the wearer’s remorse. During the forty days that follow, churches are usually stripped bare of their decorations while Christians solemnly pray and reflect in anticipation of Easter. Ultimately, Lent ends just as Holy Week begins.

Overview

A sacred remembrance of the passion of Jesus Christ, Holy Week has been an enormously important observance since the earliest days of the Christian church. Initially, this important liturgical period was known as the Great Week because they believed it was during the last week of Christ’s life that his greatest deeds took place. The Great Week first became Holy Week during the fourth century because of St. Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, and St. Epiphanius of Constantia. At this stage, Holy Week observances were limited to Good Friday and Holy Saturday. In the years that followed, the other days of the week came to be regarded as holy days as well. Each day was specifically observed to commemorate an important event in Christ’s final week. Throughout much of the Christian church’s early history, the most important aspect of Holy Week was the celebration of the Easter Vigil, or the Christian Passover, between the evening of Holy Saturday and the early hours of Easter Sunday. Although this practice fell from common practice during the Middle Ages, it was restored by the Vatican in the mid-twentieth century.

Holy Week begins with the celebration of Palm Sunday on the Sunday before Easter. Palm Sunday commemorates Christ’s joyous arrival in Jerusalem, when he was welcomed to the city by a throng of excited supporters. Most Palm Sunday services involve the use of palm branches like those the people of Jerusalem carried when they came to greet Christ. Many services also include the performance of a simple passion play that re-enacts the events of Christ’s final week.

Holy Thursday, which is also known as Maundy Thursday, commemorates the Last Supper and Christ’s establishment of the Eucharist. The Holy Thursday Mass is special in several ways. Most importantly, it typically includes a ceremony during which the priest washes the feet of twelve people, as Christ did for his apostles on the night of the Last Supper. The Holy Thursday Mass is also when priests renew their sacred vows. Traditionally, the Chrism Mass, a special service during which chrism and other holy oils are blessed, is celebrated on Holy Thursday as well. Today, the Chrism Mass is sometimes held on one of the earlier days of Holy Week.

The most solemn day of Holy Week, Good Friday is a commemoration of the crucifixion and death of Christ. Good Friday is observed through separate afternoon and evening services, during which the faithful recall Christ’s suffering and death. This service sometimes includes a devotion exercise known as the Stations of the Cross, which is a symbolic retracing of Christ’s final journey to his crucifixion. Good Friday is also often highlighted by the veneration of the cross, which is when the faithful go forward and kiss the cross as a sign of respect for Christ’s sacrifice.

The Holy Saturday Easter Vigil is the first Easter service of the season. A celebration of Christ’s resurrection, during which he came back to life three days after his crucifixion, usually begins outside the church, where the priest and some congregation members gather around a fire lit in a charcoal brazier. It continues with the lighting of the large Paschal candle, which symbolizes the light of Christ and is used throughout the year. Easter Sunday, which follows, is not considered an official part of Holy Week by most people; instead, it is seen as the official start of the Easter season. Throughout the Easter season, Christians continue to celebrate God's plan for the salvation of humanity. Holy Week and its celebrations remain an essential part of the twenty-first-century Christian faith and are marked by global celebrations, papal activities at the Vatican, and traditional rituals and cultural interpretations of the week.

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