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[German Version] unified feast for all saints of a specific region, originally grew out of the need to incorporate the remembrance of the martyrs in the annual Easter celebration. The custom of associating the remembrance of the saints with the beginning of the Celtic year on Nov 1 spread from Ireland in the 8th/9th centuries. Promoted by Gregory IV (828–844) and Louis I, the Pious (814–840), this date finally prevailed in the West and is often also adopted in the festival canon of Reformed church orders. Karl-Heinrich Bieritz Bibliography A. Adam, Das Kirchenjahr mitfeiern, 1979; ET: The …

[German Version] I. History 1. Sunday (Lat. dies solis, Ger. Sonntag, Dutch zondag, Danish Søndag) is the second day of the Greco-Roman planetary week, which displaced the original Roman eight-day week in the 2nd century ce. Influenced by the model of the Jewish seven-day week but also by astrological notions from the Near East, it associated the days of the week with the seven known “planets” (including the sun and moon). As Mithraic religion and the cult of sol invictus (celebrated on Dec 25; introduced by the emperor Aurelian in 274 ce) gained influence, Sunday took on special sign…

[German Version] The Christian calendar of feast days can be understood as a series of overlapping cycles of time. A first cycle consists of the Sundays recurring in the rhythm of the seven-day week. They provide the foundation stones for the Christian feast day calendar and determine its basic form. The second cycle begins with Easter, the oldest Christian annual feast (Feasts and festivals). Like the Passover (Pesach; Feasts and festivals) feast it is linked to the lunar cycle and today stretche…

[German Version] I. History – II. Christian Liturgy – III. Practical Theology – IV. Art History – V. Music I. History 1. Origins. “Christmas,” the nativity feast or birthday celebration of Christ on Dec 25, comes from Middle English Christmesse, Christ's Mass; cf. Dutch Kerstmis. The German Weihnachten, “holy nights,” refers to the twelve days between Dec 24 and Jan 6. The Lat. natalis, dies nativitatis, or nativitas domini nostri Jesu Christi is reflected in Span. navidad, Ital. natale. Gk ἡ γενέθλιος ἡμέρα τὰ γενέθλια, ἡ κατὰ σάρκα γέννησις τοῦ κυρίου/ hēgenéthlios h…