Comments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/pentecost-and-mother-s-day

Comment #1759

2008-05-15T11:48:14Z

Ah, that makes sense. Since the church and secular calendars aren't in sync, these conflicts are bound to happen now and then.

Comment #1758

2008-05-15T04:01:15Z

I believe the National Day of Prayer is always the first Thursday in May.

Comment #1757

2008-05-12T20:26:46Z

May 1 is still labor day in a vaguely communist sense. One problem with May 1 and Ascension coinciding was that Salvation Army members from across Europe apparently get together every Ascension in Zurich for whatever a group of Salvation Soldiers do, but they cancelled it this year because every May 1 a bunch of rowdy leftists (Schwarzer Block) march through Zurich and apply the force of their arguments on shop windows and cars.

Comment #1756

2008-05-12T16:50:40Z

I had originally spelled it "Mothers' Day" then got to thinking...we each only have one mother, not counting things like mothers-in-law and Mother Church...so I looked it up, and the preferred spelling seems to be "Mother's." But I see the point for either.

There was a conflict with Ascension here, too -- why someone chose to make the National Day of Prayer conflict with Ascension I don't know, unless they figured, well, as long as you're going to be in church anyway.... Other than that May 1 has little meaning here. Pardon my parochial ignorance, but what is the significance of May 1 in Switzerland? My vague high-school-history memories associate May 1 with big celebrations in Communist countries, with parades of missiles in Red Square and all, but that doesn't quite sound like Switzerland to me.

I say celebrate the Christian holiday with all due festivities in church, then use the secular vacation day as you see fit. Hiking sounds great to me, though a discussion of the Holy Spirit while hiking sounds even better :).

I do find it amusing (and in an odd way, encouraging) that oh-so-secular Europe has no trouble not only celebrating Christian holidays but even calling them by their true names, while here we go into conniptions if someone says "Christmas vacation" instead of "winter break." Names do have power, and if you grow up knowing the name of the event there's a better chance you'll eventually discover the history and meaning, I think.

Comment #1755

2008-05-12T15:26:36Z

From that point of view 2008 was a bad year: Ascension on May 1st and Pentecost on Mothers' day. (Is is Mother's Day or Mothers' Day?) But even on regular years we get both Ascension and the Monday after Pentecost off and don't really know what to do with the days - we've used them for hikes this year, but that's hardly a tradition that reinforces remembrance of what is being celebrated...

Comment #1754

2008-05-12T14:23:14Z

The movie we saw was called Paper Clips. It was a documentary about middle school students in the Southern US who did a project on the Holocaust, collecting a paper clip for every person who died. They ended up collecting several million more than they needed, and getting an actual cattle car from Germany which they turned into a memorial museum.