Ascension Day

Ascension Day is a very significant day in Christianity. It is also a public holiday in a large number of countries, but how it is actually celebrated differs in several respects. In Sweden, it has a long history that in many ways also connects with pre-Christian times.

Here is some information about the day of Christ's ascension and what characterizes it in our modern times.

Christian and at the same time pre-Christian

Ascension Day is a Christian holiday that aims to mark the day when Jesus left earthly life for heaven. It always takes place on the 40th day after Easter. As this is always a Thursday, the day has sometimes been referred to as Holy Thursday.

How it is celebrated varies greatly depending on the extent to which a country has become secularized. The more traditional celebration of the ascension of Christ includes a service and a visit to the cemetery where loved ones are.

What gives it a special position in Sweden in particular is that Ascension Day also coincides with the day when farmers release the cows on pasture. Therefore, the day is historically also known as the day of grazing release / cow release. This means that culturally it also has an anchorage in the peasant society whose history is in many ways older than the history of Christianity in Sweden.

Holiday that few actually celebrate

In many cases, Ascension Day coincides with Sweden's National Day in such a way that together they form a particularly long weekend. Therefore, Ascension Day sometimes becomes part of Sweden's longest weekend period.

Despite its status as a public holiday, it is relatively unusual in Sweden to celebrate Ascension Day. It is still mainly the Christians and believers who to some extent pay attention to the day. But the celebration has increased, and many predict that it will soon be a bigger phenomenon than it has been before.

Good Friday and Easter Monday

In Christian tradition, Good Friday and the second day of Easter are two very important festivals that are both essential in the attention of Jesus. But even in the secularized world, these days in many places have the status of an official full day.

Despite the fact that they are holidays, the celebrations in many countries have more or less not taken place. What is unique is that the weekends in some places are barely noticed, while in other places they involve very large events.

Here is a little more information about what Easter Monday and Good Friday are really about.

Good Friday

Good Friday is basically a Christian holiday that takes place in memory of Jesus' crucifixion. It takes place on the Friday before Easter, and has as its original idea to focus on the suffering that Jesus went through in connection with the crucifixion. In Sweden, it took until the 17th century before it became a holiday.

Good Friday's date varies greatly from year to year, and that is why it is said to occur on the very Friday before Easter. In many countries, Good Friday is celebrated with a symbolic crucifixion. In connection with this, there is also a longer period of fasting.

For Sweden, on the whole, Good Friday has been a low-key holiday that is not really celebrated beyond church circles. Internationally, however, it has been considerably more tangible.

Easter Monday

Easter Monday is also a public holiday in many countries. It is celebrated on the first Monday after Easter. In the USA, on the other hand, Easter Day has a special position as it is not a state-wide holiday. Therefore, the celebration differs greatly in different places.

The second day of Easter is originally a day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Therefore, the celebration has a historical anchorage in the service. It would probably not be too unfair to say that the second day of Easter is mainly noticed by the people who regularly visit the church.