Well Easter is always the day after the Passover Sabbath, and since Shabbat is Friday evening to Saturday evening, Easter will always be on a Sunday.
If it's any consolation -- which I know it isn't, my co-worker and I always have to take a vacation day for Good Friday. And I have to take a little bit of time off to attend services on Ash Wednesday and -- if I choose to go -- on Epiphany.
I get the impression -- and please correct me if I am wrong -- that there are two major Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. (It's my understanding that Chanukkah is not a major holiday but that it is played up so that it can be a counterpart to Christmas.) There are, likewise, two major Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter, and our Church calendar revolves around these two poles.
Easter will always fall on a Sunday, which I suppose is convenient, except that I don't get a day off of work for it. But Easter is really more than one day. Celebrations begin on Palm Sunday with Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem and really get going on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. I would love to have Thursday and Friday off to spend it in observance of the season.
Despite its Christian roots, Christmas has become an overcommercialized holiday, and most people celebrate it for Santa Claus and gift giving rather than for the birth of Christ. It is hypocritical of our supposed "secular" government to make Christmas a holiday and not one of the major Jewish or Islamic holidays.
That said, there are several Holy Days of Obligation throughout the Church Calendar that Catholics and other Orthodox Christians would like to have off but we don't get. I admit complete ignorance over the 12 weekday holiday you alluded to, but they probably balance out with the major feast days (holidays, Days of Obligation, whatever you want to call them) that also usually fall during the week for Christians.
I hope you don't mind the lengthy response. I enjoy talking religion with people of other faiths, to better learn about and understand one another's culture/faith/religion. :)
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Date: 2004-04-13 07:08 pm (UTC)If it's any consolation -- which I know it isn't, my co-worker and I always have to take a vacation day for Good Friday. And I have to take a little bit of time off to attend services on Ash Wednesday and -- if I choose to go -- on Epiphany.
I get the impression -- and please correct me if I am wrong -- that there are two major Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. (It's my understanding that Chanukkah is not a major holiday but that it is played up so that it can be a counterpart to Christmas.) There are, likewise, two major Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter, and our Church calendar revolves around these two poles.
Easter will always fall on a Sunday, which I suppose is convenient, except that I don't get a day off of work for it. But Easter is really more than one day. Celebrations begin on Palm Sunday with Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem and really get going on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. I would love to have Thursday and Friday off to spend it in observance of the season.
Despite its Christian roots, Christmas has become an overcommercialized holiday, and most people celebrate it for Santa Claus and gift giving rather than for the birth of Christ. It is hypocritical of our supposed "secular" government to make Christmas a holiday and not one of the major Jewish or Islamic holidays.
That said, there are several Holy Days of Obligation throughout the Church Calendar that Catholics and other Orthodox Christians would like to have off but we don't get. I admit complete ignorance over the 12 weekday holiday you alluded to, but they probably balance out with the major feast days (holidays, Days of Obligation, whatever you want to call them) that also usually fall during the week for Christians.
I hope you don't mind the lengthy response. I enjoy talking religion with people of other faiths, to better learn about and understand one another's culture/faith/religion. :)