(NEDERLANDS) (PORTUGUÊS)
What strikes me every year is that here in the Iberian Peninsula, Pentecost is almost non-existent. When I discovered this, I was actually surprised. As Catholic as these countries pretend to be, they have very little in store for Pentecost Sunday. I find it even stranger that the Netherlands has Whit Monday as an official day off. Although that day is on the verge of being exchanged for an Islamic holiday.
My mother - catholic - quizzed me in the last years of her life - she never gave up hope of more awareness in me - on the meaning of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.
Eventually, I was able to give her a brief summary:
At Christmas, Christians celebrate because of the birth of Jesus, everything around Easter is a big agony, then Jesus is crucified. Easter Sunday, Jesus rises from the dead and appears one more time with a message that just doesn't get through to people, and Pentecost is supposed to be the greatest celebration of all because humanity gets the Holy Spirit poured out on them as a last resort. To awaken as yet so that everyone would start living life as it is meant to be lived. In peace and quiet with themselves and each other.
I think the story of Jesus is a beautiful story up to and including Pentecost. After that, it gets quiet in Christian land. By the way, I think there are many other beautiful and mostly optimistic stories about wise people who told something and mankind did nothing with it. Perhaps all those wise words were a little too early. Suppose some kind of Jesus rose up now in the 21st century. What would happen then? Would it still be too soon? No, I don't believe it would be too early or too late. It is just not necessary if humanity were to learn that following a leader implies enslaving oneself. That is what happens when we surrender our autonomy to another. Be it the king, the emperor, the prime minister or some other lost soul.
But back to the question of why Pentecost does not get any attention here in Portugal and in my neighbouring Spain. Well, I have thought of something for that.
Over the centuries, the church has taken control of the people through scaremongering. Biblical stories have been interpreted and rewritten in such a way that the common people no longer dared to take a step for fear of reprisals. The people were taught to suffer and if they suffered enough then later when you are dead it will be all right. That was the message. That is why Semana Santa (the week before Easter Sunday) is celebrated so lavishly here with processions and all. This dwarfs the celebration of Christmas. I feel a grey cloud coming over people in the run-up to Semana Santa and during that week. They start looking serious and suffering at the command of the calendar. Then all the families get cosy and noisy eating together. For hours. So when it comes to suffering, it's good. They are specialists in that here. Just listen to fado and Spanish duende. Pentecost is hors catégorie because extremely good news. Church leaders silence to death the day when light was brought to people. Life goes on that day as if nothing is the matter.
Like my mother, I still think that if religious feasts are to be celebrated so much then that Pentecost deserves a top prize. A chance to wake up every year. What more could a person wish for?
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