Pentecost

==== Fasting and devotions ====
For some [[Protestants]], the nine days between [[Ascension Day]], and Pentecost are set aside as a time of [[fasting]] and universal prayer in honour of the disciples' time of prayer and unity awaiting the Holy Spirit. Similarly among [[Roman Catholics]], special Pentecost [[novenas]] are prayed. The Pentecost Novena is considered the first novena, all other novenas prayed in preparation of various feasts deriving their practice from those original nine days of prayer observed by the disciples of Christ.

While the Eve of Pentecost was traditionally a day of fasting for Catholics, contemporary [[canon law]] no longer requires it. Both Catholics and Protestants may hold spiritual [[retreats]], prayer [[vigil]]s, and [[litanies]] in the days leading up to Pentecost. In some cases vigils on the Eve of Pentecost may last all night. Pentecost is also one of the occasions specially appointed for the Lutheran Litany to be sung.<ref>{{cite web |author=(P. Drews.) |url=http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc06/htm/iii.lxxiv.xvi.htm |title=Litany |publisher=Ccel.org |access-date=2010-05-17}}</ref>

On the morning of Pentecost, a popular custom is "to ascend hill tops and mountains during the early dawn of Whitsunday to pray. People call this observance 'catching the Holy Ghost.' Thus they express in symbolic language the spiritual fact that only by means of prayer can the divine Dove be 'caught' and the graces of the Holy Spirit obtained."<ref name="Wesier1956">{{cite book |last1=Weiser |first1=Francis X. |title=The Holyday Book |date=1956 |publisher=Harcourt, Brace and Company |pages=44–45}}</ref>

Another custom is for families to suspend "artfully carved and painted wooden doves, representing the Holy Spirit" over the dining tables as "a constant reminder for members of the family to venerate the Holy Spirit."<ref name="Wesier1956"/> These are left hanging year-round and are cleaned before the feast of Pentecost, often being "encased in a globe of glass".<ref name="Wesier1956"/>

On the vigil of Pentecost, a traditional custom is practiced, in which "flowers, fields, and fruit trees" are blessed.<ref name="Wesier1956"/>