What’s With All the Leaves?
On Sunday you will see our church and icons decorated with leaves for the feast of Зелені Свята - the green feast day, which is to say Pentecost.
About the Feast Day
The feast of Pentecost is one of the 12 major feasts of the year, when the Holy Spirit came down upon the Apostles while gathered in a room, and gave them the ability to speak in each other’s languages. Christ, at the Ascension, had told the disciples to stay in Jerusalem until the “helper” came. And this helper came in the form of the wind that came whooshing into the room and allowing the Apostles to speak and understand each other — the Holy Spirit. In practice, Pentecost is understood to be the birthday of the Church - the day when the Apostles became Christian and founded the Church. As such, this is one of the oldest celebrations we have in the Church, with Pentecost celebrations being recorded even in the 1st century.
Red Vs. Green
In the Romanic Catholic Church this feast day is celebrated with the colour red, representing the fire of the Holy Spirit, and the tongues of the Holy Spirit above the Apostles as seen in the icon of Pentecost. The Orthodox Church however celebrates this day with green, with the clergy and altar all vested in green to represent the Holy Spirit:
“for the Church never grows old, but is always young. It is an evergreen, ever-living Tree of grace and life, of joy and comfort. For the Holy Spirit - "the Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life - comes and abides in us, and cleanses us from all impurity," and fills our life with meaning: faith, hope, and love.”
In the Protestant Church this feast day is known as Whitsun.
The Ukrainian Tradition
It is believed that the use of green leaves on this feast day actually comes from pre-Christian practices. As such, the practice throughout Ukraine and now Canada, involves bringing branches and greenery and decorating the icons and Churches, from head to foot. This tradition saw this feast as the beginning of the summer cycle and prayed for a bountiful harvest.
In a similar line, the feast of Pentecost (Shavaut) is also celebrated by the Jews - 50 days after Passover (which is when Christ was crucified), when Jews celebrate the first harvest with a 3-day festival bringing their first yields to the temple to be blessed.