yes, I know I'm a pedant, but...

... next week is not Easter Week, but Holy Week. And the day after Good Friday is not Easter Saturday, it's Holy Saturday. Easter Saturday is the saturday AFTER easter.

Thanks. I feel much better now. 

Comments

[si]

shoot Maggi, that would mean that you Stations Exhibition publicity is wrong! :(

[maggi]

oh dear, Si. But that won't stop me coming down to see your stations - it sounds fab!

[Kathryn]

Mad panic in these parts as whoever compiles the church calendar had totally managed to omit Easter Week...there may not be that much happening, but to jump straight from 27th March to 4th April in one go was a tad alarming.
What day are you going to Town, Maggi?...I'm wondering whether to go up to explore the Stations too if I can squeeze it in on Wednesday.

[tony]

Hey, pedantry may not make the world go round, but it sure keeps it on its axis, so I'm all for it. What's less comfortable, for me as a committed pedant, is
a) living with a pedant
b) having another pedant as your NSM colleague
When two pedants collide, it's - how shall we say? - an interesting experience.

[Another pedant]

Your last "Saturday" and "Easter" didn't begin with capital letters.

God is in the detail.

[maggi]

thanks, M&C - it's good to know that A) I'm not the only one who's pedantic and b) I have a way to go yet... ;)

[steve]

maggi
i comment on this in my blog. in new zealand "holy week" is now no longer a "known term." Which raises the question of when might we change our language for the sake of cultural connectivity? The term "holy week" is after all, a term given in a particular context, for a particular time. Can a changing context allow us to change languate?

[maggi]

Of course, Steve. If your culture really has no tradition of talking about "holy week" then you don't have the same confusion to deal with that we do. (although I noticed you called it Holy Week in your previous post:
http://www.emergentkiwi.org.nz/archives/postmodern_evangeegg.php - is that because Holy Week used to be your terminology but isn't any more?)
I wouldn't expect UK English to travel all over the world. Here though it is confusing that people use both terms so that you don't actually know which one they mean.

Personally I'd be just as happy with something like "the Saturday before Easter" and "the Satruday after Easter". I don't think it's clunky, though, to say "Holy Saturday (the day before Easter)" and "Easter Saturday (the saturday after easter)" or even "Holy Saturday (26th March)" etc...

what does matter is that people know which day you are talking about. Incidentally, if you call today "Easter Monday", what do you call next monday?

[steve]

next monday could be a holiday :)
or national fish and chip day :) (links to John 21 etc)

[maggi]

well in the UK next Monday IS a national holiday (we call them Bank Holidays) and it's called Easter Monday. So calling yesterday Easter Monday would have caused major national confusion, say nothing of industrial chaos.

[Stefan]

On the subject of Holy Week, what exactly happens on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday? For the Catholics at least, the Gospels consist of basically the story of Judas betraying Christ, but does this make the three days particularly 'Holy'?

I ask having seen a list of services for Holy Week at an Anglican Cathedral and having the days after Passion/Palm Sunday listed as "Holy Monday" "Holy Tuesday", etc, until Good Friday. Although I can accept them being special days because they occur between Passion Sunday and Definitely-Holy Thursday, can these three days be construed as sacred in their own right?

[Diana]

This is a good discussion but I have to have a small rant. On GMTV Friday 25th was refered to as Easter Friday. I know we are in a less and less God fearing nation but if people are on holiday (holy-day) surely they should at least know why!