Paper 2: 2.1 Festivals and Celebration Flashcards
What are festivals?
Commemorate significant moments in a religious calendar
What do Christian festivals involve?
Special hymns/songs
Rituals
Purpose of Festivals in Christianity
To take time and appreciate what God has done in sending Jesus to Earth
Advent
‘The coming’
Remembrance of:
* OT prophets spoke of there coming of the Messiah
* The NT prophesied that Jesus would return again as King and judge at the end of time
How long is advent
4 weeks, leading up to Christmas
What is Advent for
To prepare for Christmas
Reflect on the relationship with Jesus
Readying yourself to give an account of your life to Jesus Judge
What do Christians do during advent?
- RCC and CofE churches have an advent wreath - 5 candles for each Sunday. Sense of anticipation
- Bible readings
- Special hymns
- No flowers to represent time of repent
- At home: Advent calendars with pictures of Christmas stories
Christmas
Celebration of Jesus’ birth
Incarnation
Nativity
Incarnation
God in human form ‘in flesh’
Messiah
The incarnation
Luke 2:11
‘A saviour has been born to you, he is Christ the Lord.”
Immanuel
God with us
John 3:16 - God’s act of love, sent Jesus as a saviour
Matthew 4:16
“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light”.
- god rescues people from darkness
What is Jesus to Christians?
A gift
Act of God’s kindness/grace
Festivals are about love
What do Christians do at Christmas
Carols
Bible readings
RCC midnight mass
Nativity plays
Decorations
Christingle
Symbol of God’s provision and salvatio
When is Epiphany
12 days after Christmas
What is epiphany
The visit of the wise men to Jesus
Gifts of the wise men
Gold - represents Jesus’s kingship
Frankincense - symbolises that Jesus is fully man and fully God
Myrrh - foreshadows Jesus’s death
Easter
The death and resurrection of Jesus
Jesus died on Good Friday and rose on Easter Sunday
Lent
Period of time of preparation for Easter
40 days based on Jesus’s fasting in the desert
What is Lent fasting a symbol of
Showing greater focus on God rather than materialistic needs
Gives more time for people to reflect on whether they have put God first in their lives
Palm Sunday
Sunday before Easter Sunday, first day of Holy week
Celebrates Jesus’s arrival to Jerusalem on donkey
John 12 (Palm Sunday)
People greeted Jesus with palms and crowns as he was the next Messiah
What Christians may do on Palm Sunday
Churches give out small crosses made of palm leaves
Maundy Thursday
Christians remember the passover meal with his disciples = Last supper
What Christians do on Maundy Thursday
Mass
RCC - wash 12 peoples’ feet
Good Friday
Jesus’ crucifixion
What Christians do on Good Friday
Hot cross buns eaten to mark end of lent
Sermons
Why is Good Friday called ‘good’?
A rescue for the world
Easter Sunday
Jesus’ resurrection
Jesus was seen by Mary Magdalene and disciples for 40 days
Point of resurrection
God raised Jesus from the death to show that he had accepted Jesus’ sacrifice for mankind.
Anyone can be forgiven if they have faith in God
How Christians might celebrate Easter Sunday
Easter eggs - symbolise new life
Lunch with lamb - in the passover meal Jesus ate lamb and put its blood over doors that the angel of death would pass over
Significance of Easter
- Jesus gave his life to give us life with God forever
- Jesus rising from death = destruction of sin and death
