However, some churches, particularly in the United States, celebrate it on the following Sunday. Depending upon the phases of the Moon in a particular year, Ascension Day is celebrated on a Thursday. It is believed that on the 40th day he took them to the Mount of Olives, where they watched as he ascended to heaven.Īscension Day marks the end of the Easter season and occurs ten days before Pentecost. According to the New Testament in the Bible, Jesus Christ met several times with his disciples during the 40 days after his resurrection to instruct them on how to carry out his teachings. BackgroundĪscension Day is one of the earliest Christian festivals, dating back to the year 68. Public transport services may run on weekend schedules in some countries that observe Ascension Day as a public holiday. Government offices, schools, banks, and many businesses are usually closed in countries where Ascension Day is a public holiday. It is a public holiday in some countries, including: Public LifeĪscension Day is not a federal public holiday in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, or the United States. In modern times, it involves people in the locality walking around their farm, manorial, church or civil boundaries pausing as they pass certain trees, walls and hedges that denote the extent of the boundary to exclaim, pray and ritually 'beat' particular landmarks with sticks. In the old days, it involved beating boys with willow branches as they were driven along parish boundaries, not only to purify them of evil but to teach them the limits of their parish. Other customs may include “beating the bounds”. In England, Ascension Day is associated with various water festivals ranging from Well Dressing in Derbyshire to the Planting of the “Penny Hedge” at Whitby, a small town in Yorkshire. These jaunts are called gökotta, or “early cuckoo morning”. It is good luck if a cuckoo is heard from the east or west. In Sweden, many people go out to the woods at 3 am or 4 am to hear the birds at sunrise. Despite Christianity being a minority religion in Indonesia, Ascension Day is a public holiday and special services take place at churches throughout the country.Īscension Day is sometimes called Father’s Day in Germany because many Protestant men have herrenpartien “outings” on this day. The Friday in between is usually quiet, particularly in shops and offices. Many people take a long weekend off because the day falls on a Thursday. In countries where it is a public holiday, Ascension Day is a free day for many workers. ©/Jorisvo What Do People Do?Īscension Day is officially celebrated on a Thursday on the 40th day of Easter (or 39 days after Easter Sunday). It is a Christian holiday that commemorates Jesus Christ's ascension into heaven, according to Christian belief.Īscension Day marks the 40th day after Jesus Christ's resurrection, according to Christian belief. When Is Ascension Day 2023? Ascension Day 2023Īscension Day is the 40th day of Easter. Business Date to Date (exclude holidays).This was believed to have healing and therapeutic benefits.įor the non-religious, Ascension Day is just a lovely spring holiday, filled with festivals and other fun events. This traces back to a tradition from the distant past when people used to wake up at 3 AM on Ascension Day, to walk barefoot through the grass and sing and dance. A lot of people tend to wake up at dawn to go for an early morning walk or cycling tour. There is, however, one tradition that has seeped into the entirety of Dutch culture and that is the tradition of the early-morning spring walk, known to the Dutch as ‘dauwtrappen’, literally ‘treading the dew’. In religious circles this is mostly celebrated with a church service and in some cases a procession. Ascension Day is believed to be the last time that Jesus appeared to his followers. Easter, Ascension Day and Pentecost form a fundamental unity, as they all revolve around the same salvific event. It is the 40th day after his resurrection from the grave and ten days before Pentecost. As you might have gathered from the name, according to the Bible, Ascension Day celebrates the ascension of Jesus Christ.
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