Spring Equinox is when at the Equator the day is equal to the night at 12 hours each. Before that days are shorter than nights, after that the days get longer than night. Americans use it as the first day of spring. The other Equinox is the first day of fall. Then you have the summer and winter solstice for longest day and shortest day.
Palm Sunday is the day Jesus arrived in Jerusalem before his death. It is called that as he was welcomed into the city and Jews laid palm leaves for him to walk on and/or waved them.
2007-01-09 21:46:50
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answer #1
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answered by JuanB 7
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Celebrates the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, marking the beginning of Holy Week that culminates in Easter or Pascha. In some churches, Palm Sunday is combined with the anticipation of Christ's death and so is also known as "Passion Sunday." Orthodox Christians observe this Sunday on a date different from the date on which Protestant and Roman Catholics observe it. (Christianity)
The first day of the Season of Spring - and the beginning of a long period of sunlight at the Pole. In the northern hemisphere: MARCH 20 (the Sun crosses the Equator moving northward). In the southern hemisphere: SEPTEMBER 22 (the Sun crosses the Equator moving southward).
2007-01-10 05:44:51
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answer #2
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answered by elvisjohn 7
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Palm Sunday
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Palm Sunday occurs on the Sunday before Easter Sunday in the Western Christian liturgical calendar. It signals the upcoming end of Lent and the beginning of Holy Week. The day commemorates the spreading of palms and clothing in Jesus' path as He entered Jerusalem prior to His crucifixion:
They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" (Matthew 21:7-9)
Many churches re-enact Jesus' return to Jerusalem with a processional in which participants wave palm branches. In areas where palm trees are unavailable, branches of the ***** willow, yew, and spruce trees are often used.
Spring Equinox
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Many, perhaps most, Pagan religions in the ancient Mediterranean region had a major seasonal day of religious celebration at, or following, the spring equinox. In one religion, Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a consort who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. He was Attis, who was said to have died and been resurrected each year during the period MAR-22 to MAR-25; i.e. at the time of the vernal equinox in the Julian calendar.
Wherever Christian worship of Jesus and Pagan worship of Attis were active in the same geographical area in ancient times, Christians "used to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus on the same date; and pagans and Christians used to quarrel bitterly about which of their gods was the true prototype and which the imitation." Since the worship of Cybele was brought to Rome in 204 BCE, about 250 years before Christianity, it is obvious that if any copying occurred, it was the Christians that copied the traditions of the Pagans.
Today, no consensus exists on the linkage between the Attis legend (and the stories associated with many other god-men) and Jesus Christ:
Some religious historians believe that the god-man's death and resurrection legends were first associated with Pagan deities many centuries before the birth of Jesus. They were simply grafted onto stories of Jesus' life in order to make Christian theology more acceptable to Pagans in the Roman Empire.
Ancient Christians had an alternative explanation; they claimed that Satan had created counterfeit Pagan deities with many of the same life experiences as Jesus had. Satan and his demons had done this, in advance of the coming of Christ, in order to confuse humanity.
Most modern-day Christians regard the Attis legend as being a Pagan myth of little value. They regard Jesus' death and resurrection account as being an exact description of real events, and unrelated to the earlier Pagan traditions.
Among the Roman Catholic church and Protestant denominations, Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after MAR-20, the nominal date of the Spring Equinox. Its ancient linkages to sun and moon worship are obvious. Many sources incorrectly state that the starting date of the calculation is the actual day of the Equinox rather than the nominal date of MAR-20. Other sources use an incorrect reference date of MAR-21.
Easter Sunday can fall on any date from March 22 to April 25th. The year-to-year sequence is so complicated that it takes 5.7 million years to repeat. Eastern Orthodox churches sometimes celebrate Easter on the same day as the rest of Christendom. However if that date does not follow Passover, then the Orthodox churches delay their Easter - sometimes by over a month.
2007-01-10 06:15:39
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answer #3
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answered by Sisodia 2
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