The big days of the Holy Week

Since Holy Week commemorates the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, it runs from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.

Palm Sunday:
On the sixth Sunday of Lent we commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Since the worship services include blessing of the palms, it is called Palm Sunday. It also called Passion Sunday since it opens the Holy Week with an introductory focus on the passion of the Lord.

Spy Wednesday:
This is an old and uncommon name for the Wednesday of Holy Week, which commemorates Judas’ spying to betray Jesus (see Matthew 26:3-5, 14-16).

Maundy Thursday:
The name “Maundy Thursday” is derived from Jesus “mandate” to love one another as he loves us. This day celebrates Jesus’ institution of the sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Holy Orders.

Good Friday:
On this day, Church commemorates the Lord Jesus’ passion or suffering, and death by crucifixion. Worship customs include Veneration of the Cross, communion from the reserved Maundy Thursday host, and the singing or preaching of the Passion (reading or singing excerpts of the Passion story from John’s gospel). In the Catholic Church, the liturgical color was formerly black, but is now red. This Friday is called Good because this was the Friday when the Lord Jesus achieved our greatest good,namely, our salvation from sin.

Black Saturday:
This is the day after Good Friday and before Easter Sunday. It is the day of the Holy Week which commemorates the death of Jesus Christ and hence it is called Black Saturday. Since it is a day of silence, there are no specific customs associated with Black Saturday, except that it is the final night before the Feast of the Resurrection,which begins at the Great Easter Vigil.

Easter Sunday:
Generally Holy Week is a busy time for Catholic and other Christians, as they build up to the Queen of all Church Feasts, Easter (Pascha), the apex of the Holy Week. Like the pagans, Christians celebrate the cycle of life in its death and rebirth. Instead of focusing upon nature, however, the Christians apply it to the celebration of their belief in Christ. For Christians, therefore, Easter marks the day when after spending three days in his tomb, Jesus Christ rose to life again. According to the Venerable Bede, Easter is an English term relating to Estre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring, which deity, however, is otherwise unknown. The Greeks called Easter the pascha asnastasimon and the Latins, pascha resurrectionis.

Sources: http://www.churchyear.net/holyweek.html
h t t p : / / c a t h o l i c i s m . a b o u t . c o m / o d /
holydaysandholidays/p/Good_Friday.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Saturday
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05224d.htm