Haly Week

The Haly Week is the week o the Christian calender that stairts wi Paum Sunday an ends wi Easter Sunday. Gaun by the Gospels o The New Testament, it wis the hintmaist week o Jesus's life on the yird.

Paum Sunday is the first day o the Haly Week, an merks the day that Jesus cam tae Jerusalem, tae the great walcome o the thrang o fowk. This day seems tae hae been the pyke o Jesus' popularity wi the thrang durin his life. For ordinar it is a blythe day in modren kirk sevices, tho the mair mirksome aspects tae come on Guid Friday is aften mynt at.

Thir days haes nae speceefic events attached tae thaim in the Gospels. They dae tell us that durin the last week o his life Jesus wis teachin in the Temple an colloguin wi the Jewish authorities, but no on whit days, sae there's nae speicial events or teachins frae the Gospels that's attached tae thir days in modren kirk wirship.

The name o this day comes frae the Laitin wird mandatum (Sco: comaund) for it is the first wird o the Laitin phrase Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos (Sco: "A gíe ye a new commaundment - luve ilk ithir; een as A hae luved ye"). Maunday Fuirsday wis the nicht o Jesus' betrayal an reestin Eucharist or the Laird's Supper. In modren kirks, emphasis is aften pitten on the "new commaundment" an the act o Jesus' washin his disciples' feet - as weel as on the Eucharist.

Guid Friday is the day that Jesus wes kilt on the ruid, gaun by Christian belief as the saicrifeece for the sins o aw fowk. The Gospels aw gies acoonts o his daith an the sair pyne that gaed wi it. Modren Christian practice tends tae see Guid Friday as a day for thinkin on the saicrifeece o Christ, an on penitence for sins.

Syne Jesus wis deid on the Seturday, there disna tend tae be muckle wirship (there's nae Catholic Mass, for ensample) - tho mony kirks haes a veegil ower-nicht tae the Sunday mornin.

The maist important day in the Christian calender, Easter Sunday merks the resurrection o Jesus frae the deid, an gaun by Christians, his victory ower sin an daith. This is the maist blythe day o the Christian year. Some haunts associate wi Easter haes passed intae secular society an aw, sic as rowin Easter eggs doun braes.

The first mention o the haunt o merkin this week oot as a hail wi speicial observances can be fund in the Apostolical Constitustions, that wis written in the seicont hauf o the third century. It maunds absteenin frae wine o meat for aw the days, an fastin on the Friday an Seturday. An o the Kirk Faithers, Dionysius Alexandrinus referred tae the sax days o fastin in an epistle o his frae AD 260, impleein that the haunt wis weel estaiblished by thon time.

There is a bit dout aboot the provenance o a maundment attritbutit tae Constantine that maundit haudin frae public haundlin for the sieven days afore an efter Easter Sunday. Ither auncient scrievins mentions the observances o the Haly Week an aw, amang thaim The Pilgramage o Etheria an the Codex Thedosianus.

• The Days o the Haly Week Archived 2008-04-10 at the Wayback Machine at The Christian Resource Institute

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