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Day of the first fruits : yom habbikurim
Feast of the harvest : hag haqqasir
heorte hebdomadon (greek) / hag shabuot (hebrew)
Whitsuntid / Whitsunday / Whitsun or just plain and simple, White Sunday
From Acts 2:1-4...
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
From Wikipedia...
The ultimate origin of all customs associating Pentecost with greenery would ostensibly be the Jewish holiday of Shavuot when it is customary to decorate synagogues with greenery. This holiday marks the time when Moses received the Torah on Mount Sinai on behalf of the Nation of Israel, and tradition holds that Mount Sinai, despite being in the wilderness of the Sinai desert, miraculously flowered and bloomed in honor of this occasion. The custom of decorating synagogues with greenery on Shavuot, mentioned in many halakhic works, commemorates the miracle, and may perhaps date back to the time of the Jewish Temple. The Mishna records that the Oxen leading the processions bringing "first fruits" to the Temple (which began on Shavuot) wore wreaths of Olive branches on their heads. (Bikkurim 3:3) While there are no mishnaic sources for the Temple itself having been decorated with greenery at that time, the Tractate of Midot records there having been one band of flowery engravings surrounding the altar, which may be connected with commemorating the same miracle. What's more, there is no Talmudic record of what was done with the said wreaths following the slaughtering of the oxen. It would seem quite probable that the wreaths would have remained ad loc, decorating the area, in one sense or another.
Whitsunday remains one of the Scottish term days, at which debts are paid and leases traditionally expire, but this Scottish Whitsunday is now always considered to fall on May 15.
Ordinations to the diaconate and priesthood are often held on Pentecost.
Wishing you an enjoyable Whit Monday,
rossini the radical
