Orthodox Pentecost Monday in Cyprus
In Cyprus, Kataklysmos, also known as the Water Festival or Festival of the Flood takes place on Orthodox Pentecost Monday, 50 days after Easter.
Katalysmos is thought to have originated from a feasts in honour of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. The key events that form part of the festival are fairs, swimming competitions, boat races, folk dancing and traditional music, and taking the chance for everyone to have fun throwing water at each other.
When is Orthodox Pentecost Monday?
Orthodox Pentecost Monday, also known as Holy Spirit Monday, is observed fifty days (approx. seven weeks) after Orthodox Easter.
The date in the Orthodox church will differ from the Western church due to the different methods of calculating the date of Easter.
History of Orthodox Pentecost Monday
It marks the end of the Easter cycle, which began 92 days before with Orthodox Shrove Monday.
Pentecost Sunday commemorates the coming of the Holy Spirit in the form of flames to the Apostles, as recorded in the New Testament in Acts, 2.
The Holy Spirit allowed the apostles to speak in other languages through 'tongues of fire', and they started preaching the word of Jesus to the Jews who come to Jerusalem for the feast of Shavuot (Pentecost), a festival that celebrates of the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai.
Many Christians recognise this day as the birth of the Church for two reasons. Firstly, the descent of the Holy Spirit completed the Trinity - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - the basis of Christian theology. Secondly, it was the first time that the Apostles had preached to the masses.
The following day, Pentecost Monday is celebrated as a holiday in some East European counties.
In Greece, Pentecost, known as Agiou Pneumatos is also a national holiday in Greece and schools and companies are closed, but shops, restaurants, and cafes are open and normally packed with crowds.
