Religious Holidays In May 2002

May 1	Beltane is one of the original Celtic harvest festivals; it is now celebrated among Wiccans.
May 3	Orthodox Good Friday - Good Friday marks the crucifixion of Jesus Christ at the hands of the Romans. (View Library Resources on Good Friday)
May 5	Orthodox Easter - Easter Sunday celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from death. (View Library Resources on Easter)
May 9	Ascension Day - Forty days after the Resurrection, Christ ascended into heaven after giving his disciples final teachings.
May 17	Shavout - The "Feast of Weeks", a festival in Judaism tied to the agricultural season, also commemorates the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai.
May 19	Pentecost - The day of Pentecost, from the Greek word for 50, commemorates the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles of Jesus.
May 23	Declaration of the Bab - The Baha'is mark the beginning of their era from this date; the Bab was the forerunner of Baha'ullah.
May 24	Mawlid al-Nabi - The celebration of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad is marked by many Muslims, especially by Sufis. Its observance, however, is not universal in Islam.
May 26	Trinity Sunday - The Christian doctrine that the One God is Three Persons - Father, Son, and Spirit - is commemorated on the first Sunday after Pentecost.
May 29	Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh - This Baha'i holiday marks the anniversary of the death of Baha'u'llah, which occurred in 1892. The faithful pray facing the city of Acre, Israel, where he was imprisoned at the time of his passing.
May 30	Corpus Christi - The Roman Catholic and Anglican worlds celebrate on this day the institution of the Eucharist (Holy Communion, Last Supper). The Anglicans refer to this day as "Thanksgiving for Institution of Communion."