We explain what Holy Week is for Christians, when it is celebrated and what is commemorated on each of its days.
What is Holy Week?
Holy Week or Semana Mayor is one of the most important annual popular celebrations in Christian culture, commemorating the different stages of the Passion of Jesus Christ: from his entry into Jerusalem, to his Stations of the Cross, death and resurrection. Holy Week is one of the annual moments of greatest liturgical intensity and ritual of Christianity.
In religious terms, Holy Week represents the last week of the messiah on Earth. For this reason, its ritual contents range from the triumphant, to the tragic and the glorious.
It is usually celebrated on a variable date of the year, between March and April, after Palm Sunday, and from Ash Wednesday, the days begin to be “holy days”. Of all of them, the most important are the so-called "Paschal Triduum" (from the Latin Triduum Paschale), which runs from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday (or Resurrection Sunday).
Holy Week initially coincided with Passover, and its criteria for celebration were more or less the same as for the latter. For this reason, Christians consider Jesus of Nazareth as the "Passover Lamb", whose sacrifice allowed the purging of the sins of humanity.
Likewise, the first to celebrate Holy Week were the Jewish followers of Christ, that is, the first Christians, and later the Christianized Romans themselves, whose oldest records in this regard date from the fourth century.
However, as Christianity spread to all regions of Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East, its rites were hybridized with many pagan traditions, such as the celebration of spring.
That is why contemporary Holy Week is celebrated in different ways in the different Christian territories of the world, drawing on different ways of representing and symbolizing the suffering of Jesus Christ during the Stations of the Cross, as well as the subsequent glory of his resurrection.
Usually, in Christian countries, from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday are usually holidays, not working days.
When is Holy Week celebrated?
The celebration of Holy Week occurs on variable dates, between March 22 and April 25, always preceded by the lent and framed between Palm Sunday and Easter or Resurrection Sunday. There is a historical reason for this.
The first norms for the celebration of the “Christian Passover” were defined at the First Council of Nicea in 325, to solve the confusion in this regard (the computus paschalis) who opposed the views of the Church of Rome and the Church of Alexandria.
Thus, it was decided that the Christian Passover should always be celebrated on a Sunday, not to coincide with the Jewish one, and that it should be only once a year, since the new year then began on the vernal equinox. However, astronomical discrepancies continued between the two churches, which celebrated Easter 4 days apart.
Thus, a new reform of the ritual calendar was required, which was proposed by the Byzantine monk Dionysus the Meager (c. 465-550) in the year 525. It was he who created, in addition, the denomination of Anno Domini (“Year of the Lord ”) That allowed the Gregorian calendar to replace the Julian one. Once Rome was convinced of the benefits of the Alexandrian way of calculating the date of Easter, it was established that:
- Easter must always be celebrated on a Sunday. This Sunday must be the one following the first full moon of the boreal spring, so that it does not coincide with the Jewish Passover.
- The Paschal moon must take place on or immediately after the spring equinox of the northern hemisphere. This equinox must occur between March 20 and 21.
In this way, the current calculation of when Holy Week is celebrated was arrived at.
Holy Thursday
Holy Thursday is the first day of the Easter Triduum, that is, of the most important days of Holy Week. It is celebrated on the Thursday before Easter Sunday, closing the Lenten Cycle. This day the Catholic Church commemorates the Eucharist at the Last Supper of Jesus Christ and his apostles, as well as the washing of feet performed by the messiah.
Later, in the "holy hour" the prayer of Jesus Christ in the garden of olive trees is commemorated, as well as the betrayal of Judas and the capture of Jesus by the Roman authorities.
The celebrations of Holy Thursday vary enormously from country to country, but they usually involve, in addition to the corresponding masses, solemn processions with a large popular presence.
Holy Friday
The fifth day of Holy Week is perhaps the most representative of the celebration and the one that most profoundly commemorates the life of Jesus of Nazareth, since it was the day of the Way of the Cross, crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ.
The solemn ceremonies of this day usually abound in red ornaments and in moments of silence, since it is a day of mourning. Good Friday and Holy Saturday are the only days of the Christian liturgy in which mass is not said.
The Catholic Church orders its faithful to fast and abstinence, especially regarding the consumption of red meat, and many other Christian churches offer special services and prohibit the performance of worldly works.
Holy Saturday
Holy Saturday is the day of waiting for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, in which his descent into the tomb and his journey into the abyss are commemorated. Like (and much more) than Good Friday, it is a day of mourning, of ceremonial silence, in which Mass is not said, nor are other sacraments administered.
Traditionally, this day was called Glory Saturday, since the celebration of the resurrection was already celebrated in the morning, but after the liturgical reform of Holy Week in 1955 (undertaken by Pope Pius XII), the use of "Holy Saturday" and a fast of one to three hours is fixed before the night communion, when the Easter Vigil begins, from the night of Holy Saturday until the early morning of Easter Sunday.
Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday, Glory Sunday or Resurrection Sunday is the day that Holy Week concludes, and that celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after his death on the cross. This celebration begins after the Easter Vigil and lasts for a week, until the Octave of Easter, and is one of the most important on the Christian calendar.
Its celebration usually involves religious processions and liturgical celebrations, as well as decoration of Easter eggs and other types of festivities, depending on the country and local culture.
The theological meaning of Easter Sunday has to do with the renewal of vows and the confirmation of the coming judgment of God, which he has offered to the humanity a new covenant thanks to the sacrifice of the messiah, Jesus Christ.