Holy Week

• 1. Introduction

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  Holy Week, the seven days leading to Easter, brings a hush to the Philippines every Good Friday. After 3 pm, the hour when Jesus is traditionally believed to have died, many radio and television stations close down. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are national holidays there. Offices and most stores shut, and city dwellers travel back to their home provinces.

  In Spain, Italy and Guatemala the same days look nothing like that quiet. Crowds fill the streets, and churches across the Christian world hold liturgies that draw their largest attendance of the year. For every Christian tradition the week is moveable, shifting each year with Easter itself.

  How did a single week gather so many customs, and who first marked it as a whole? Why do Orthodox services run in an order that seems backwards? And what do darkness, silence and bare altars have to do with the joy that ends it?

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• 2. Early Records

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  A canonical letter from Dionysius Alexandrinus, dated to AD 260, mentions 91 fasting days. That figure suggests the custom was already settled in his time. The earliest hint of marking the week as a whole comes from the Apostolical Constitutions, which date from the latter half of the 3rd century and the 4th century. It commands abstinence from meat on every day of the week, and an absolute fast on Friday and Saturday.

  A decree credited to the Roman Emperor Constantine is on shakier ground. It supposedly ordered public business to stop for the seven days before Easter and the seven after. Scholars doubt that it is genuine. The Codex Theodosianus is explicit by comparison. It orders every legal action to cease and the doors of all courts to be closed for those 15 days.

  Good Friday was the first of the days to rise into special prominence. Next came the Sabbatum Magnum, the Great Sabbath, which is Holy Saturday or Easter Eve. Its vigil carried an expectation in the early church that the second advent would arrive on an Easter Day.

  The fullest account of the week as the early church kept it is The Pilgrimage of Etheria, also known as The Pilgrimage of Egeria. It records the whole observance in detail. Many centuries on, Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Catholics follow Holy Week liturgies that are nearly identical.

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• 3. Palms and Spies

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  Before 1955, the Roman Rite called the first day of Holy Week simply Palm Sunday, and the Sunday before it was Passion Sunday. From 1955 to 1971 the day was Second Sunday in Passiontide or Palm Sunday. Lutherans and Anglicans name it the Sunday of the Passion. All four canonical gospels describe the event it recalls. Crowds greeted Jesus as he entered Jerusalem, shouting praises and waving palm branches.

  In liturgical churches, palm leaves or other branches, olive among them, are blessed and carried in procession. The blessing is paired with a gospel reading of Jesus riding humbly on a donkey. Before the reform of Pope Pius XII, the blessing took place inside the church. Five prayers were said, the procession went out, and on its return a ceremony reopened the doors that had been shut in the meantime.

  In the Philippines, Catholics bring blessed palaspás home and place it over doors and windows. They believe it wards off evil spirits. Elsewhere, Christians hang palms beside crosses or tuck them into their Bibles.

  Holy Monday recalls the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the Temple. It also recalls the anointing of Jesus at Bethany, which John places before Palm Sunday. Holy Tuesday, sometimes called Fig Tuesday, turns to his predictions of his own death. On Holy Wednesday the church remembers Judas arranging the betrayal with the chief priests. That role as a spy among the disciples gives the day its name, Spy Wednesday.

  Spy Wednesday is also the usual night for Tenebrae, a Latin word for shadows or darkness. Readings and psalms are chanted while candles are put out gradually. Roman Rite parishes, Lutherans, Moravians, Anglicans and Methodists keep it. So do some Western Rite parishes inside the Eastern Orthodox Church.

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• 4. Bare Altars

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  On Maundy Thursday the Catholic Church forbids the private celebration of Mass. Apart from the Chrism Mass, the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper is the only one held. At the Chrism Mass the bishop blesses three oils: one for the sick, one for catechumens, and chrism. This Mass was missing from Roman Missal editions before Pope Pius XII. It may be moved earlier in the week so that more of the diocese's clergy can attend.

  During the Gloria of the evening Mass, all the church bells may ring. Then they fall silent, and the organ may only support singing until the Gloria at the Easter Vigil. The Roman Missal recommends that the priest wash the feet of customarily twelve men after the homily, recalling the number of the apostles.

  Afterwards the Blessed Sacrament is carried to an altar of repose away from the main church. In the Philippines and Malta, the faithful go from church to church praying at each such altar. Filipinos call the practice Visita Iglesia and visit seven churches.

  Then the stripping begins. Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist churches use black altar cloths or remove them entirely. In Lutheran churches the lectern and pulpit are left bare until Easter. A Lutheran source explains this as a symbol of the "humiliation and barrenness of the cross." Catholic churches remove crosses where possible, or veil them.

  On Good Friday the Catholic altar stays completely bare, without cloth, candlesticks or cross. The only sacraments celebrated are Penance and Anointing of the Sick. The afternoon service is not a Mass at all, and celebrating Mass that day is forbidden. It has three parts: the Liturgy of the Word, the Veneration of the Cross, and Holy Communion. The Passion according to John is sung or read, often divided among several voices. Then a crucifix is unveiled, and people venerate it on their knees while the Reproaches are often sung. The Communion distributed was consecrated the evening before.

  Vestments in the Catholic Church are red. Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians keep black, which Catholics also wore until 1970. Many parishes hold the Three Hours Devotion, with a sermon on each of the Seven Last Words from the Cross. The Colosseum in Rome hosts a traditional celebration with the pope taking part. Moravians, meanwhile, spend Good Friday cleaning the gravestones in their cemeteries.

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• 5. Light in Darkness

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  On Holy Saturday the doors of the empty tabernacle on the main altar stand open, to show that Jesus is gone. The lamp beside it is blown out. No Mass is celebrated all day, and Holy Communion may be given only as Viaticum. Some Anglican churches, the Episcopal Church in the United States among them, offer a simple liturgy of the word recalling the burial.

  After sundown the Easter Vigil begins, and it can run three or four hours. The crowd gathers inside an unlit church. A new fire is kindled and blessed, preferably outdoors. From it the priest lights the Paschal candle, a symbol of the Light of Christ. The deacon carries it at the head of the procession and stops three times to chant a proclamation. Until Easter 2011 the official English wording was "Christ our Light." The people answer, "Thanks be to God."

  As the flame passes from candle to candle, the darkness thins. The deacon or cantor then chants the Exultet, called the Easter Proclamation. The Paschal candle stays in the sanctuary throughout Eastertide. Afterwards it is kept in the baptistry for the whole year, so that baptized candidates can light their own candles from it.

  The Liturgy of the Word has nine readings: seven from the Old Testament, though at least three are required, and two from the New. The crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 14 must never be left out. Only after the Old Testament readings does the Gloria return, together with the bells. The Alleluia is then sung for the first time since the start of Lent.

  Next the baptismal font is blessed, and any catechumens are baptized or confirmed. The whole congregation renews its baptismal vows and is sprinkled with the water. The newly baptized receive Holy Communion for the first time in the Mass that follows. By the Missal's rubrics, the vigil ends before dawn on Sunday.

  Easter Day is the high point of the Christian year. Its Resurrection is the main reason Christians observe every Sunday. It opens Eastertide, the Great Fifty Days that run to Pentecost Sunday. One sunrise tradition began with the Moravians in 1732, when they held the first Easter sunrise service.

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• 6. Great and Holy Week

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  In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the forty days of Great Lent end on the Friday before Palm Sunday. Two transitional days follow. Lazarus Saturday recalls Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, just before he went to Jerusalem. Palm Sunday is a Great Feast of the Lord. Neither day belongs to Lent or to Holy Week, and the fast eases. Fish eggs are allowed on the Saturday and fish on Sunday.

  Orthodox days begin at sunset, so Vespers normally opens each day. Holy Week reverses this. Sunday evening Vespers still belongs to Palm Sunday, so Vespers becomes the last service of every day. Parishes also schedule services earlier than the canonical hour so more people can come. Great Monday's Matins is therefore sung on Sunday evening. This upended time is read as a sign that salvation is God's work and God's ways exceed human understanding.

  Fasting is very strict. Meat and dairy are forbidden, no oil is used in cooking on most days, and alcohol is excluded on most days. Thursday is gentler, with oil and wine permitted. Many who are able, including monastics, abstain from all food on Holy Friday. With a blessing from a spiritual father, some eat only two meals all week: one on Wednesday night and one after Thursday's liturgy. The very young, the ill and the elderly are not expected to keep the strictest fast.

  On Monday through Wednesday, an icon of the Bridegroom stands on an analogion in the center of the temple. It shows Jesus in a purple robe of mockery and a crown of thorns. These services chant the entire Psalter, apart from Kathisma XVII, in the first three days.

  Tuesday evening brings the Hymn of Kassiani, which was written in the 9th century by Kassia. It is sung in the voice of the woman who washed Christ's feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee. She cries, "Woe to me!" and begs to be received. The Byzantine setting can last upwards of 25 minutes and leaves many people in prayerful tears.

  Many Greek Orthodox churches hold the Holy Unction on Wednesday evening, after the Presanctified Liturgy. Thursday morning brings the Divine Liturgy of the Last Supper, where some churches spread a simple white linen cloth over the altar. In cathedrals and monasteries the bishop or abbot washes feet.

  Thursday evening brings the Matins of the Twelve Gospels, which tell the story from the Last Supper to the burial. At the first Gospel about the Crucifixion, the priest sets a large cross with an icon in the center of the nave. On Friday, Christ's figure is taken down from the Cross, and a richly embroidered cloth called the Epitaphios is laid in a tomb decorated with flowers.

  Friday evening, Matins of Great Saturday gathers the faithful around that tomb for Lamentations. The priest sprinkles it with rose petals and rose water, and the Epitaphios is carried in a candlelit procession around the church. Saturday's Proti Anastasi liturgy commemorates the Harrowing of Hell. The vestments change from dark colors to white, though the Paschal kiss waits, since the Resurrection has not yet been announced.

  The Paschal Vigil begins around 11:00 pm with the Midnight Office. All lights go out, and everyone waits in darkness until midnight. The priest lights one candle from the altar's eternal flame, which is never extinguished. The light passes from person to person, and a procession circles the church, recreating the Myrrhbearers' journey to the tomb. At the closed doors, opening them stands for the rolling away of the stone. Everyone enters singing the Troparion of Pascha. Then comes the paschal kiss and the reading of the Catechetical Homily of John Chrysostom.

  Breakfast follows, sometimes lasting until dawn. Slavs bring baskets of eggs, meat, butter and cheese to be blessed. On Easter afternoon, Agape Vespers features a Gospel reading in as many languages as possible, with ringing bells.

  Coptic Orthodox Christians fast Lent for 55 days, including the week they call Holy Paschal Week. From Tuesday night on, they stop greeting one another or the priests, and they do not even kiss icons, because Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. The paschal liturgies are held in the middle of the church rather than at the altar, since Jesus was crucified outside Jerusalem at Golgotha. The altar is stripped of its coverings and relics.

  Good Friday adds a Twelfth Hour to the five hours of the other days. Late Friday night, the whole Book of Revelation is read. When the Easter liturgy ends the fast on Saturday night, meat, fish and dairy are allowed again. Until Pentecost, the usual Wednesday and Friday fasts are dropped.

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• 7. Streets and Sound

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  In Trapani, Sicily, the Processione dei Misteri carries 20 floats of lifelike sculptures through the streets. They are made of wood, canvas and glue, and each shows a scene from the Passion. The procession has run every Good Friday since before the Easter of 1612, making it among the oldest continuously running religious events in Europe. It lasts at least 16 hours and sometimes runs past 24.

  The Spanish version is carried on human shoulders. In Seville the pasos are lifelike wood or plaster sculptures of scenes between the arrest and the burial of Jesus. In Málaga they are called tronos, and bearers called costaleros carry them. The name means sack men, after the costal cloth they wear over the neck. A single paso can weigh up to five metric tonnes. Penitentes in long purple robes walk in front, followed by women in black carrying candles for up to 11 hours.

  Brotherhoods called hermandades and cofradías maintain the pasos. Their Nazarenos wear conical capirotes that hide the face, and some walk barefoot with shackles on their feet as penance. Brass bands play funeral marches written for the occasion. In Cartagena and Málaga, those bands may be military ones.

  Guatemala adds carpets. Its processions carry saints on huge wooden platforms called andas, with locals in purple robes bearing the weight. Alfombras line the streets. In Comayagua, Honduras, people still make sawdust carpets as they did when the Spanish introduced the custom in the 16th century. In Brazil's southern town of Campanha, carpets appear on Saturday night. There the week opens on Monday evening with the Procession of the Deposit. A figure called Our Lord of the Stations is carried in a black box to the main square. Inside the church, a choir sings the Miserere by Manoel Dias de Oliveria. Easter morning ends with the Hallelujah Chorus.

  In Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, Sicily, the first procession took place in 1621. It began as a protest against the jurors of Milazzo, who held the village in subordination. That bond was permanently ended in 1639.

  In the Philippines, Holy Monday starts the Pabasa, marathon chanting of the Pasyón, a poem on the life and death of Jesus. It runs day and night and can last two straight days. Good Friday brings a Passion play called the Senakulo. In San Fernando, Pampanga, some devotees even have themselves nailed to crosses. On Easter dawn the Salubong brings statues of Jesus and Mary together in procession. Spanish priests introduced that rite in the colonial era.

  Music fills these days as well. Tomás Luis de Victoria's Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae, published in 1585, sets 37 texts for Catholic Holy Week. Carlo Gesualdo's Responsoria of 1611 sets all 27 Tenebrae responsories. French baroque composers wrote Leçons de ténèbres for the evenings of Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

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• 8. Beyond the Week

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  In Mexico, Brazil, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Peru, Spain and the Philippines, the Friday before Palm Sunday is called Viernes de Dolores, the Friday of Sorrows. In many countries, the Holy Week processions begin on this day. The Roman Rite celebrated a universal feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary on it from 1727 to 1969. The feast began in Germany, and Pope Benedict XIII later made it universal. In 1960, Pope John XXIII reduced it to a commemoration. In 1969 it was dropped, because another feast of the same name falls in September. Pope John Paul II's 2002 missal restored an alternative collect for the day. Malta still ranks the Friday as a feast. Some call it Council Friday, because the old Gospel reading described the Sanhedrin meeting about Jesus.

  The Octave of Easter, called Bright Week in the East, is an eight-day stretch from Easter Sunday to the following Sunday. Easter Monday is a bank holiday in many countries. In the south of France, families share an Easter omelette made from Easter eggs with friends and neighbors. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the day is Bright Monday or Renewal Monday, and an outdoor procession follows the Divine Liturgy.

  In Poland, the same Monday is called lany poniedziałek, Wet Monday, and it begins with a splash. Boys throw water over girls and spank them with pussy willow branches, and the girls do the same to the boys. The custom, called Śmigus-dyngus, is also observed in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and western Ukraine. Some regions add verse declarations and door-to-door processions, with boys dressed as bears. Its origins are uncertain and may reach back to pagan times before 1000 AD, though a written description exists from the 15th century. In the United States, where Polish Americans call it Dyngus Day, patriotic American elements have joined the traditional ones.

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