What You'll Find Here (and Happy Pinse Day)

Hi all, so after months of debating whether or not to do a blog, here is my first post.  Yes, this comes just after reading an article that the number of blogs is decreasing, and after reading about the House, M.D. episode where Laura Prepon's character was a blogger, and whose marriage was on the rocks because of it.  Additionally, I am not a mommy blogger, the likes of which seem to be dominating the popular side of the blogosphere.  Still, I have a lot of things to say, and a blog seems like a fun way of doing it.


These are the topics that you can expect to find here:
- being an American in Denmark
- health and fitness
- organic foods
- cooking


Today in Denmark it is Pinse Dag (or Pentecost Day), one of the many religious holidays that are celebrated by taking a day off from shopping, going to school or work, and conducting government business.  Yet no one seems to know why.  I am continually fascinated by the number of people who seem to not know what the religious significance is behind the many holidays they get off annually.   May has another one, Ascension Day (Kristi Himmelfartsdag).  But then again, 1.5 years at Danish language school didn't teach me this either (nor a lot of Danish); however, even on the Danish version of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, there is a Christian Religion subject, so I assume it is taught in all the schools.

So, what is Pinse Day?  A quick Google search reveals that the day is always 50 days after Easter, and until holiday reforms in 1770, a 3rd Pinse Day was also celebrated.  Hm, so I guess that makes today - Monday - the 2nd Pinse Day?  More Google searching leads me to discover that Ascension Day is 40 days after Easter (so that's why it's also called "Ascension Thursday").  Some vague childhood bible study classes are coming back to mind - Jesus ascended into heaven 40 days after he was crucified, right?  Or did he go without food for 40 days?  Or both?!

Back to the math, Pentecost is always 10 days after Ascension Thursday, so that makes the Sunday before Pentecost Whit Sunday, and the following Monday is Pentecost.  Gotta hand it to the folks before 1770, to drag this observance out a day longer.

But what makes Pentecost significant? Apparently the apostles were hanging around celebrating the Jewish holiday Shavuot, when they heard a gust in the air, their tongues turned to fire, and all of a sudden they started speaking "in tongues". They felt they had received the holy spirit and immediately increased the number of their followers; therefore, this day is seen as the birthday of the church.  (I am assuming that speaking in tongues made them suddenly fluent in other languages and able to communicate their message to speakers of other languages.)  Interestingly enough, Shavuot celebrates Moses receiving the 10 Commandments, which happened 50 days after the Exodus.

My main question is, why in the world were the apostles still celebrating Jewish holidays after their savior died?  Hm?  And did being fluent in other languages also mean that they were literate and able to write strange alphabets and know how to correctly spell everything?  Or did all that go to Paul, who then used his writing skills to chastise the partying-it-up Corinthians?

Whew! This is enough religious history and biblical pondering for me until the next religious holiday, which is Christmas, if my TimeandDate calendar is correct. (Look forward to my post then, which will surely include ancient Viking pagan rituals that are now used by Christians.)  If only I could find what those apostles were drinking, and be hit with a gust of air so that I could immediately be fluent in Danish!  I only assume they were drinking, because this story reminds me of some flaming shooters I've observed with many international students at Tony's, with all of us saying "cheers!" in different languages.

I must say I feel some pity for the Christian (Lutheran in Denmark) church, because an entire nation's productivity is ground to a halt to celebrate its birthday, but only a few have straggled to make it to the party, despite a baptism rate of at least 80%.  I would be so very, very sad if only 20% of my confirmed RSVP'd guests made it to my birthday party.  But that's how it can go in Denmark.