Maundy Thursday
Encyclopedia : M : MA : MAU : Maundy Thursday
In the Christian calendar, Holy Thursday or Great Thursday, called in England and in a few other English-speaking countries Maundy Thursday, is the feast or holy day on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles.
Church services held on this day typically include a reading from the Gospel account of the Last Supper, which includes Christ's taking bread and wine and, declaring them to be his body and blood, giving them to the Apostles. Holy, Great or Maundy Thursday also stresses Jesus' washing of the feet of the Apostles at the start of the Last Supper, as recounted in the Gospel of John. At services on this day, a minister, priest, or lay leader(s) may wash the feet of some members of the congregation to commemorate Christ's actions and command. The Washing of the Feet is a traditional component of the Holy Thursday celebration in the ancient Christian Churches, including the Armenian[link], the Maronite, the Ethiopian, and the Roman Catholic. Foot washing is also increasingly popular as a part of Holy Thursday liturgies in many Protestant churches.
In the Roman Rite liturgy, the Holy Thursday Mass recalling the Last Supper is the last Mass before the Easter Vigil service. It usually includes a reenactment of the Washing of the Feet of the Apostles, and is followed by a procession taking the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose.
The word Maundy, used only in this context, is derived, through Middle English, and Old French mandé, from Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" (A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you) (John 13:34), in the teaching by which Jesus drew out for the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the day is referred to liturgically as Great Thursday but is also called Holy Thursday or Holy and Great Thursday.
The day has also been known as Sheer Thursday, due to the idea that it is the day of cleaning (schere) and because the churches themselves would switch liturgical colors from the dark tones of Lent. This name is a cognate to the word still used throughout Scandinavia, such as Swedish "Skärtorsdag", Danish "Skærtorsdag" and Norwegian "Skjærtorsdag".
Customs from around the world
The Maundy Thursday celebrations in the United Kingdom today involve the Monarch (in this case Queen Elizabeth II) offering "alms" to deserving senior citizens (one man and one woman for each year of the sovereign's age) in a red and white purse, this is known as Maundy money. This dates back to King Edward I and there is one coin for every year of the Sovereign's reign. Since 1822, rather than ordinary money, the Sovereign gives out special Maundy coins.Up until the death of King James II, the Monarch would also wash the feet of the selected poor people. There is even an old sketch, done from life, of Queen Elizabeth I washing people's feet on Maundy Thursday.
In Germany, the day is referred to as "Gründonnerstag," a word built of two roots, "grün" ("green") and "Donnerstag" ("Thursday"). However, the word "grün" probably does not mean "green" in this case. While its etymology is somewhat unclear, many trace it back to "grinan" ("to wail") in Old High German, a word connected with the English "groan".
In the Czech Republic, the day is called "Zelený čtvrtek", meaning "Green Thursday" as well. Sometimes it is speculated that the name comes from the perhaps green colour of vestments once worn at the Mass that day. Another theory says that the name comes from the green vegetable eaten on this day, such as spinach or cabbage, so that people were healthy all the year round. This habit has its origin in the Jewish Pesach dinner. [link] As the church bells calm down until Holy Saturday, here called "White Saturday", because "they have flown to Rome", they are in some regions replaced by groups of children walking round their village and making noise with wooden rattles. People come out of the door and give them coins.
In the Philippines, a popular Holy Thursday tradition is the Visita Iglesia (Church Visit), which involves visiting several Churches at which the faithful commemorate the vigil that the Apostles kept while Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is a custom in use in several European countries also.
See also
| [http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit ] | Holy Week | ||
| Palm Sunday | Holy Monday | Holy Tuesday | Holy Wednesday | Maundy Thursday | Good Friday | Holy Saturday | Easter Sunday | Easter Monday | |||
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.