Spiritual Itineraries - Festivals And Celebrations

With more than 2 billion adherents, Christianity is the most eminent religion in the world. About 42 million Britons consider themselves as supposedly Christian and there are about 6 million people who are actively devoted towards this belief. According to the followers of Christianity, Jesus Christ who appeared in the Holy Land about 2,000 years ago, was incarnation or can say Son of God. People who followed his lessons became the disciples of Christianity and a number of Christian churches developed after the end of his life.

Christin Festivals and Celebrations

Christian’s festivals are celebrated in the same way as other festivals are rejoiced by people. The Christian community celebrates festivals like Good Friday, Easter and Christmas. All these celebrations are multihued and full of spiritual sentiments.

The Christians believe that the birth of Jesus Christ was consequence of prophecies that took place in the Jewish Old Testament claiming that the Massiah would set free Jewish citizens from imprisonment or slavery.

image

Good Friday : Good Friday is celebrated as Jesus' death anniversary on the cross. Jesus was killed or put to death on the day of Friday prior to Easter Day, it is believed by the Gospels. Since then, in early churches Good Friday has been celebrated by keeping fast and through penance. In the Orthodox, Anglican traditions and Roman Catholic, , the festivity of the Eucharist is prohibited; ceremonial service entails worship of the cross, the Passion description from the Gospel of St. John, along with spiritual union using bread and wine sanctified the earlier date, Maundy Thursday. Other types of ceremony include meditation and prayer at the locations of the Cross, a sequence of 14 images, generally on wooden crosses, portraying Christ's crucifixion as well as the occasions passing up to it.

Easter : It is also recognized as Pascha , the Sunday of the Resurrection, the banquet of the rebirth or the Resurrection Day, is the most significant religious feast that falls out in Christian Calendar. This festival is observed linking late March plus late April while in East early April to early May. It rejoices the rebirth of Jesus, which took place after the ending of his life by crucifixion. In various Catholic Churches, Easter is in fact considered an eight-day feast also known as the Octave of Easter.

Christmas : It celebrates Jesus Christ’s birth and communicates his message of tolerance, love and brotherhood. It's a carnival of mankind and humanity. Though this festival is the primary celebration of the Christian calendar, but now it has an exceptional importance in everyone's life. People all over the world celebrate it as a universal festival. In 336 A.D, in the previous Roman calendar, the first mention of 25th December as the birth Jesus’ birth date occurred. In India it holds a specific significance.

Christian Pilgrimage Sites located in India:

  • The Church of St. Cajetan, Goa
  • Basilica of Bom Jesus, Goa
  • Church of St Francis of Assisi, Goa
  • Christ Church & St. Michael's Cathedral, H.P.
  • Santa Cruz Basilica, Kerala
  • Church of the Sacred Heart, Delhi
  • Little Mount, Chennai (Madras)
  • Cathedral Church of St. Thomas, Mumbai