Pentecost

== Literary allusions ==
According to legend, [[King Arthur]] always gathered all his knights at the round table for a feast and a quest on Pentecost:
<blockquote>
So ever the king had a custom that at the feast of Pentecost in especial, afore other feasts in the year, he would not go that day to meat until he had heard or seen of a great marvel.
<ref>''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', Thomas Malory. [http://www.arthurian-legend.com/le-morte-darthur/le-morte-darthur-7.php Book 7, chapter 1] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100119060020/http://www.arthurian-legend.com/le-morte-darthur/le-morte-darthur-7.php |date=2010-01-19 }}</ref>
</blockquote>

German poet [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] declared Pentecost "das liebliche Fest" – the lovely Feast, in a selection by the same name in his ''[[Reineke Fuchs]]''.

:Pfingsten, das liebliche Fest, war gekommen;
:es grünten und blühten Feld und Wald;
:auf Hügeln und Höhn, in Büschen und Hecken
:Übten ein fröhliches Lied die neuermunterten Vögel;
:Jede Wiese sprosste von Blumen in duftenden Gründen,
:Festlich heiter glänzte der Himmel und farbig die Erde.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gedichte-fuer-alle-faelle.de/allegedichte/gedicht_476.html |title=Das Gedicht Pfingsten, das liebliche Fest... von Johann Wolfgang von Goethe |website=gedichte-fuer-alle-faelle.de}}</ref>

"Pfingsten, das liebliche Fest", speaks of Pentecost as a time of greening and blooming in fields, woods, hills, mountains, bushes and hedges, of birds singing new songs, meadows sprouting fragrant flowers, and of festive sunshine gleaming from the skies and coloring the earth – iconic lines idealizing the Pentecost holidays in the German-speaking lands.

Further, Goethe records an old peasant proverb relating to Pentecost in his "Sankt-Rochus-Fest zu Bingen"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/index.php?id=5&xid=898&kapitel=8&cHash=b151364af22#gb_found |title=Nachrichten – Kultur |publisher=Projekt Gutenberg.spiegel.de |date=2009-08-17 |access-date=2010-05-17}}</ref>
– ''Ripe strawberries at Pentecost mean a good wine crop.''

[[Alexandre Dumas, père]] mentions of Pentecost in ''[[Twenty Years After]]'' (French: Vingt ans après), the sequel to ''[[The Three Musketeers]]''. A meal is planned for the holiday, to which La Ramée, second in command of the prison, is invited, and by which contrivance, the Duke is able to escape. He speaks sarcastically of the festival to his jailor, foreshadowing his escape : ''"Now, what has Pentecost to do with me? Do you fear, say, that the Holy Ghost may come down in the form of fiery tongues and open the gates of my prison?"''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/index.php?id=5&xid=486&kapitel=12&cHash=1&hilite=Pfingsten#gb_found |title=Nachrichten – Kultur |publisher=Projekt Gutenberg.spiegel.de |date=2009-08-17 |access-date=2010-05-17}}</ref>

[[William Shakespeare]] mentions Pentecost in a line from ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' Act 1, Scene V. At the ball at his home, Capulet speaks in refuting an overestimate of the time elapsed since he last danced: ''"What, man? 'Tis not so much, 'tis not so much! 'Tis since the nuptial of Lucentio, Come Pentecost as quickly as it will, Some five-and-twenty years, and then we mask'd."''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.enotes.com/romeo-and-juliet-text/act-i-scene-v |title=Romeo and Juliet Text and Translation – Act I, Scene V |publisher=Enotes.com |access-date=2010-05-17}}</ref> Note here the allusion to the tradition of [[mumming]], [[Morris dancing]] and wedding celebrations at Pentecost.