1637: Shavuos and Pentecost Jun 8, 2019

Christian and Jewish holidays naturally have some relation in terms of dates—though often not in purpose—and this weekend is one such example. This weekend fall the holidays of Shavuos (שָׁבוּעוֹת) and Pentecost (Πεντηκοστή), which both are marked from the number of days after Pesach and Easter respectively. However, unlike with Pesach and Easter, which have no etymological similarities in English (though they do in Greek), Shavuos and Pentecost both are named for time. In the former case, the word literally means 'weeks' as the holiday falls 7 weeks after the second night of Pesach (50 days from the first night), and in the latter case 'Pentecost' means 'fiftieth', as part of a phrase meaning 'fiftieth day', as it is the 50th day after Easter. Have a happy holiday!
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