Pentecost

== Date and public holiday ==
{{Dates for Pentecost}}
The earliest possible date is May 10 (as in 1818 and 2285). The latest possible date is June 13 (as in 1943 and 2038). The day of Pentecost is seven weeks after Easter Sunday: that is to say, the fiftieth day after Easter inclusive of Easter Sunday.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Pentecost |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=2017-06-03 |quote=Pentecost... major festival in the Christian church, celebrated on the Sunday that falls on the 50th day after Easter. |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pentecost-Christianity |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711211938/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pentecost-Christianity |archive-date=2017-07-11 |url-status=live }}</ref> Pentecost may also refer to the 50 days from Easter to Pentecost Sunday inclusive of both.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-504652-6 |editor1=Kazhdan Alexander P |last=Taft |first=Robert |title=Pentecost |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium |access-date=2017-06-07 |year=2005 |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-4212 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810071131/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-4212 |archive-date=2017-08-10 |url-status=live |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001 }}</ref> Because Easter itself has no fixed date, this makes Pentecost a moveable feast.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grassie |first=William |title=Easter: A Moveable Feast |work=HuffPost |access-date=2017-06-04 |date=2013-03-28 |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-grassie/easter-a-moveable-feast_b_2970557.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170413072123/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-grassie/easter-a-moveable-feast_b_2970557.html |archive-date=2017-04-13 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the [[United Kingdom]], traditionally the next day, [[Whit Monday]], was until 1970 a public holiday. Since 1971, by statute, the last Monday in May has been a Bank Holiday. 

While Eastern Christianity treats Pentecost as the last day of Easter in its liturgies, in the [[Roman liturgy]] it is usually a separate feast.<ref name=liturgy /> The fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday may also be called [[Eastertide]].<ref name=liturgy>{{Cite book |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0-664-25350-9 |author=Presbyterian Church (US)|title=Liturgical Year: The Worship of God |date=1992}}{{page needed|date=June 2020}}</ref>

Since Pentecost itself is on a Sunday, it is automatically considered to be a public holiday in countries with large Christian denominations.

[[Whit Monday|Pentecost Monday]] is a public holiday in many countries including [[Andorra]], [[Austria]], [[Belgium]], [[Benin]], [[Cyprus]], [[Denmark]], [[France]], [[Germany]], [[Greece]], [[Hungary]], [[Iceland]], [[Liechtenstein]], [[Luxembourg]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Norway]], [[Romania]] (since 2008), [[Senegal]], (most parts of) [[Switzerland]], [[Togo]] and [[Ukraine]].

In [[Sweden]] it was also a public holiday, but Pentecost Monday (Annandag Pingst) was replaced by Swedish National Day on June 6, by a government decision on December 15, 2004. In [[Italy]] and [[Malta]], it is no longer a public holiday. It was a public holiday in [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] until 1973, when it was replaced by Early Summer Holiday on the first Monday in June. In the [[United Kingdom]] the day is known as [[Whit Monday]], and was a [[bank holiday]] until 1967 when it was replaced by the Spring Bank Holiday on the last Monday in May. In France, following reactions to the implementation of the ''[[Journée de solidarité envers les personnes âgées]]'', Pentecost Monday has been reestablished as a regular (not as a ''working'') holiday on May 3, 2005.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.conseil-etat.fr/ce/jurispd/index_ac_ld0521.shtml |title=Décision du Conseil d'Etat |access-date=2009-11-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090528070056/http://www.conseil-etat.fr/ce/jurispd/index_ac_ld0521.shtml |archive-date=2009-05-28 }}</ref>