Whitsun Pentecost Quiz 1
The following short quiz was submitted by Mark Clegg from the UK. Thanks Mark!
1. In the UK it is called Whitsun, or Whit Sunday. Elsewhere in the English-speaking world it is called the Pentecost. From which language does the word 'Pentecost' originate and what did it mean?
2. So why is the day called 'Whitsun' in English in the UK?
3. Where are the Whitsunday Islands?
4. And in which ocean can one find Pentecost Island?
5. The songs of which American country music singer featured in the movie "Mars Attacks" (tenuous link)?
6. To which language are the following names for Whitsun attributed:
a: Letnice
b: Pentecost?s
c: Pfingsten
d: Pinse
e: Helluntai
f: Pinksteren
7. In which country is the Pentecost called "the Green Holiday" - a day when people decorate their houses with green branches, which - according to tradition - are said to bring God's blessing upon the home and the people living in it?
8. In which country was it customary to blow trumpets during the church service, to recall 'the sound of the mighty wind which accompanied the Descent of the Holy Spirit'?
ANSWERS
1. Ancient Greek: 'pentekostē', which means the 'fiftieth day' - we use this word now as the day is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter (inclusive of Easter Day).
2. Whitsun stems from the old English word for White Sunday (hwīta sunnand?g), named due to the white robes worn on that day (worn by the candidates for baptism).
3. Australia (Queensland)
4. (South) Pacific (Part of the nation of Vanuatu)
5. Slim Whitman
6. Answers:
a: Czech
b: Spanish, Latin or Portuguese
c: German
d: Danish
e: Finish
f: Dutch
7. Poland
8. France