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The origins of the Holy Week celebrations The Holy Week celebrations include the commemoration of the Lord’s passion and resurrection and they trace their origins to the earliest days of Christianity. During the first century, the early Christians started to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus in their Sunday celebration every week. Their commemoration evolved by the second century in their establishing a particular day for the celebration of the resurrection, which was connected to the Jewish Passover. This was the beginning of Easter Vigil celebration. It began at sundown on Saturday evening. This was a time of remembrance and expectation that lasted throughout the night so they could sing “alleluia” at dawn on Easter morning. They called it the Night of the Great Vigil. During that Night of the Great Vigil, the Christian converts were received into the Church. By the fourth century, making pilgrimages to Jerusalem became customary for people in order to celebrate what was called the “Great Week,” which included Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday. These days of festivities commemorating the various events of Christ’s final days probably developed in Jerusalem this fourth century, possibly beginning with St. Cyril of Jerusalem. Around 318, a woman named Egeria wrote a diary which seems to account for the first time those that took place in Jerusalem during the Great Week, namely, the special rites, prayers and devotions. With the passage of time, the Holy Week observances gradually spread throughout the Christian world, with prayers, historical re-enactments and special liturgies. The Middle Ages saw the gradual falling out of the celebration of the Easter Vigil. The important days of the week were Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In 1955, the Easter Vigil was re-established as an important part of Holy Week observances by the Vatican. During the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), the bishops called for the restoration of the early Christian rituals for receiving new Christians into the Church at the Easter Vigil. In 1988, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults was issued. Today, Easter Vigil with the Easter fire, the lighting of the paschal candle, the reading of salvation history, the celebration of the sacraments of initiation for catechumens and renewal of baptismal promises for the faithful is once again an integral part of Holy Week celebrations. Source: OUR SUNDAY VISITOR, FEBRUARY 16,
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