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|date = |date = |date = |celebrations = |duration = 1 day |frequency =annual |observances = |relatedto = }} Whitsun (also Whitsunday, Whit Sunday or Whit) is the name used in Great Britain and Ireland for the Christian festival of Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ's disciples (Acts of the Apostles chapter 2). In England it took on some characteristics of Beltane, which originated from the pagan celebration of Summer's Day, the beginning of the summer half-year, in Europe. Whitsuntide, the week following Whitsunday, was one of three vacation weeks for the medieval villein;〔The others being Yuletide, the week following Christmas, and Easter Week, the week following Easter that ended at Hocktide (Homans 1991).〕 on most manors he was free from service on the lord's demesne this week, which marked a pause in the agricultural year.〔George C. Homans, ''English Villagers of the Thirteenth Century'', 2nd ed. 1991:369.〕 Whit Monday, the day after Whitsun, remained a holiday in the UK until 1978 when the movable holiday was replaced with the fixed Spring Bank Holiday in late May. Whit was the occasion for varied forms of celebration. In the North West of England, church and chapel parades called Whit Walks still take place at this time (sometimes on Whit Friday, the Friday after Whitsun).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Whit Friday: Whit Walks )〕 Typically, the parades include brass bands and choirs; girls attending are dressed in white. Traditionally, Whit fairs (sometimes called Whitsun ales〔(【引用サイトリンク】title='Feasts and Festivals' )〕) took place. Other customs such as Morris dancing were associated with Whitsun, although in most cases they have been transferred to the Spring Bank Holiday. Whaddon, Cambridgeshire has its own Whitsun tradition of singing a unique song around the village before and on Whit Sunday itself.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Reviving the Whaddon Whitsun Song )〕 ==Etymology== The name is a contraction of "White Sunday", attested in "The Holy-Ghost, which thou did send on Whit-Sunday" in the Old English homilies, and parallel to the mention of ''hwitmonedei'' in the early 13th-century ''Ancrene Riwle''.〔Both noted in Walter William Skeat, ''An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language'', ''s.v.'' "Whitsun".〕 Walter William Skeat noted that the Anglo-Saxon word also appears in Icelandic ''hvitasunnu-dagr'', but that in English the feast was always called ''Pentecoste'' until after the Norman Conquest, when ''white'' (''hwitte'') began to be confused with ''wit'' or understanding.〔Skeat.〕 According to one interpretation, the name derives from the white garments worn by catechumens, those expecting to be baptised on that Sunday. Moreover, in England white vestments, rather than the more usual red, were traditional for the day and its octave. A different tradition is that of the young women of the parish all coming to church or chapel in new white dresses on that day. However, Augustinian canon John Mirk (c1382 - 1414), of Lilleshall Abbey, Shropshire, had another interpretation:
Thus, he thought the root of the word was "wit" (formerly spelt "wyt" or "wytte") and Pentecost was so-called to signify the outpouring of the wisdom of the Holy Ghost on Christ's disciples. The following day is Whit Monday, a name coined to supersede the form ''Monday in Whitsun-week'' used by John Wycliffe and others. The week following Whit Sunday is known as "Whitsuntide" or "Whit week". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Whitsun」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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