40 Fun Facts About Pentecost

Which extreme sport grew out of the land diving ritual of Pentecost Island in the South Pacific?

Bungee jumping began after Oxford students discussed the islanders of Vanuatu, who leap from wooden platforms with vines tied to their ankles. Unlike the students, land divers mean to touch the ground.

Firefighters shower rose petals through the roof of which ancient building in Rome at Pentecost?

The Pantheon has a round opening at the top of its dome, and the petals drift down through it onto the congregation. They recall the tongues of fire in the Pentecost story.

Which food is chased down Cooper's Hill in a Gloucestershire race that was long held on Whit Monday?

A cheese wheel of Double Gloucester weighing up to nine pounds is sent down the steep slope ahead of the runners. The race later moved from Whit Monday to the Spring Bank Holiday.

Which explorer named Australia's Whitsunday Passage for the feast day his calendar showed when he found it in 1770?

James Cook named the passage for the feast because his own calendar showed Whit Sunday when the Endeavour sailed through. The 74 Whitsunday Islands off Queensland later took their name from his label.

What did mockers in the Pentecost crowd of Acts 2 say was wrong with the apostles?

They were drunk on new wine, the mockers claimed. The apostles' reply was practical: it was only the third hour of the day, about nine in the morning.

Which legendary king, in Malory's telling, would not eat at Pentecost until he had seen a marvel?

Arthur kept the custom at the Round Table, so Pentecost is when many of his knights' quests begin. Malory has Galahad take the seat reserved for the Grail knight on Whitsunday.

In which country do about a million pilgrims travel, many on horseback or by wagon, to El Rocío each Pentecost?

Spain sees the pilgrims converge on a village shrine in Andalusia, where each brotherhood arrives behind an animal-drawn cart carrying its emblem of the Virgin. Many sleep outdoors on the way.

Which bird's carved figure was lowered through a hole in medieval church roofs at Pentecost?

A dove figure came down through the round opening as the Pentecost story was read. In the Middle Ages live birds are thought to have been released through the hole instead.

The name Pentecost comes from a Greek word with which meaning, a nod to its timing after Easter?

Fiftieth is the sense of the Greek pentekoste, because the feast falls seven weeks after Easter when Easter Sunday itself is counted. Greek-speaking Jews first used the word for their own Feast of Weeks.

Which color do Western churches wear at Pentecost, recalling the tongues of fire in Acts 2?

Red stands for joy and for the fire of the Holy Spirit, and many congregations now dress in it too. Eastern Orthodox churches choose green instead and fill the building with branches.

Which apostle stood up with the eleven and preached the first sermon to the crowd at Pentecost?

Peter told the crowd that the scene fulfilled an ancient prophecy of God pouring out his Spirit on sons and daughters alike. He ended by urging his listeners to repent and be baptized.

In Acts 2, the day of Pentecost opens with a sound from heaven that is compared to what?

A rushing wind is how the noise is described, and it filled the whole house where the believers were sitting. Some churches hire trumpeters at Pentecost to recall it.

In which city were the apostles gathered when the Holy Spirit came upon them at the first Pentecost?

Jerusalem was full of Jewish pilgrims for the Feast of Weeks, which is why visitors from so many nations heard the apostles. Jesus had told his followers to wait in the city.

Which prophet's vision of sons and daughters prophesying is quoted in the Acts 2 Pentecost sermon?

Joel had foretold that God would pour out his Spirit on all people, the old dreaming dreams and the young seeing visions. The sermon presents the Pentecost scene as that promise coming true.

According to Acts 2, roughly how many people were added to the believers on the day of Pentecost?

About 3,000 joined in a single day, a huge jump from the 120 or so believers who had been meeting before the feast. That growth is why Pentecost is called the birthday of the Church.

Who was chosen by lot to replace Judas Iscariot among the twelve apostles shortly before Pentecost?

Matthias won the draw against Joseph Barsabbas, restoring the apostles to twelve. He is the only member of the Twelve not picked by Jesus in person.

Which Gospel writer is traditionally credited with Acts, the book that recounts the first Pentecost?

Luke is the name tradition gives the author, a doctor who travelled with the apostle Paul. Acts and the third Gospel are two volumes by the same hand.

In Acts 2, the Pentecost crowd is amazed that every one of the speakers comes from which region?

Galilee was the northern home region of Jesus and most of the apostles, so the crowd was astonished to hear each visitor's native language coming from them.

The Pentecost crowd hearing many languages in Acts 2 is often read as echoing which Genesis story?

The Tower of Babel is where Genesis says human speech was scrambled and people were scattered. At Pentecost the many languages draw a crowd together instead.

The upper room tied by tradition to Pentecost is also revered as the site of which Gospel event?

The Last Supper is placed by tradition in the same room, known as the Cenacle from the Latin for dining room. Pilgrims visit it on Mount Zion, just outside the old city walls.

Which Jewish harvest festival, seven weeks after Passover, drew pilgrims to the first Pentecost?

Shavuot is one of three festivals when Jews travelled to the Temple, which explains the international crowd in the Pentecost story. Christians later timed their own feast from Easter instead.

The Jewish festival behind Pentecost recalls God giving the law to Moses on which mountain?

Mount Sinai is where Jewish tradition places the giving of the Ten Commandments, seven weeks after the Exodus from Egypt. Christians saw a parallel in the Spirit arriving on the same feast.

Which biblical book, set during a barley harvest, is read in synagogues at the Feast of Weeks?

Ruth is read because its story unfolds at harvest time, the season of the festival. Many Jews also stay up all night studying scripture and eat dairy dishes.

Which Thursday feast begins the nine days of prayer that lead up to Pentecost in many churches?

Ascension Day marks Jesus being taken up to heaven, after which his followers prayed together until Pentecost. Those nine days are the model for every later novena.

Which feast follows Pentecost by a week in the West but names Pentecost itself among the Orthodox?

Trinity Sunday was ordered for the whole Western church by Pope John XXII, who reigned from 1316 to 1334. It follows Pentecost because the doctrine was first preached after the Spirit came.

Western Pentecost moves with Easter each year but can only ever fall in which two months?

May and June cover every possible date, from May 10 at the earliest to June 13 at the latest. A holy day that shifts like this is known as a moveable feast.

Which season of the Catholic year, marked by green vestments, resumes the Monday after Pentecost?

Ordinary Time returns after a pause that began on Ash Wednesday, and it then runs unbroken until the day before Advent. It can total 33 or 34 weeks across the year.

Which sacrament, often given to teenagers by a bishop, is especially associated with Pentecost?

Confirmation is held at Pentecost in many churches because it is seen as passing on the gift the apostles received. Flowers, white robes and the laying on of hands all feature.

In the rosary, the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost belongs to which set of mysteries?

Glorious is the set that opens with the Resurrection, and Pentecost is its third scene. The Luminous set is far younger, proposed by Pope John Paul II in 2002.

Which pope made the Monday after Pentecost the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church, for Catholics worldwide?

Francis added the feast to the Roman calendar in 2018. The title itself was declared much earlier by Paul VI, in a 1964 speech at the Second Vatican Council.

Which California city hosted the Azusa Street Revival that sparked the spread of Pentecostalism?

Los Angeles drew crowds to a run-down former stable, where preacher William J. Seymour led meetings from 1906. Black and white worshippers prayed side by side at the height of segregation.

Which hymn writer and early leader of Methodism had his conversion on Pentecost Sunday in 1738?

Charles Wesley felt his faith renewed that Sunday, three days before his brother John's own experience at Aldersgate Street. He marked the first anniversary by writing an 18-stanza hymn.

Which English poet set the title poem of The Whitsun Weddings on a train leaving Hull?

Philip Larkin, a university librarian in Hull, describes couples boarding at station after station as wedding parties see them off. Whit Saturday was a popular day to marry at the time.

Which kind of musical group competes in contests around Saddleworth and Tameside every Whit Friday?

Brass bands have held a Whit Friday contest in Stalybridge since at least 1870. Events added at Uppermill and Mossley in 1884 created a circuit that now draws thousands of players and spectators.

Which composer based Part I of his Eighth Symphony on the Pentecost hymn Veni Creator Spiritus?

Gustav Mahler paired the ninth-century hymn with the closing scene of Goethe's Faust. The 1910 premiere in Munich was the last time he saw one of his works first performed, and it was a triumph.

Which Greek-derived term do scholars use for the speaking in tongues prized by Pentecostal churches?

Glossolalia joins the Greek words for tongue and for speaking, and the English word dates only from 1879. Linguists describe it as fluent, speech-like syllables with no readily understood meaning.

In 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul says he will stay in which city until Pentecost?

Ephesus kept Paul because, as he put it, a great door for his work had opened there, despite many opponents. The remark shows the feast already mattered to the first Christians.

Which prophet's book first lists the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit named in Catholic teaching?

Isaiah names them as marks of a promised ruler: wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and fear of the Lord. The Greek translation turned a repeated phrase into godliness, making seven.

Branches of which tree most often decorate churches at Pentecost in Germany and Central Europe?

Birch is cut as whole young trees in southern Germany and stood around churches and other holy places. The custom is said to have grown out of planting the trees to keep evil spirits away.

Which Nordic country traded its Whit Monday public holiday for a National Day off on June 6?

Sweden made the swap from 2005, after its parliament voted in December 2004 to drop Whit Monday. Ireland and the United Kingdom had already replaced Whit Monday with fixed Monday holidays.