Christian Holidays · Holy Week
Holy Saturday
A quiet day of waiting, ending with the Easter Vigil.
When: The day before Easter
Origin and history
Holy Saturday is the last day of Holy Week, when Jesus's body lay in the tomb. Christian tradition also remembers it as the day of the Harrowing of Hell, Christ's descent to the dead. It is a day of quiet preparation for Easter.
Customs
- The Easter Vigil, a service that begins on the evening of Holy Saturday and opens the Easter celebration, in Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican churches.
- Moravian Christians decorate graves with flowers during the day and gather for a sunrise service before dawn on Easter Sunday.
How traditions differ
Reformed and Methodist congregations may hold either an Easter Vigil or a sunrise service on Easter morning. In Eastern Orthodoxy it is called Holy and Great Saturday, or the Great Sabbath, because Christ rested in the tomb.
In the library
Works: The Bible
More in Holy Week
Sources checked: Holy Saturday (Wikipedia); Holy Week (Wikipedia).