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Holy Week: from Palm Sunday to Easter

Palm Sunday   Mon-Thu   Good Friday   Holy Saturday   Great Vigil   Easter Day

Holy Week at Home

From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, the church remembers the journey of Jesus from his entry in Jerusalem to his last meal, trial, crucifixion, death, and resurrection. These are the pivotal events for our faith. Much more than Christmas, this week deserves our attention at home with our children.

In fact, the focus of these eight days is truly on what is called the Paschal Three Days, or the Triduum: From nightfall Thursday night (in a sense the beginning of Good Friday) through Easter Sunday evening. This helps us as a family orient ourselves in this week.

Look to the structure of Holy Week to guide your family activities. It's especially helpful to plan for Friday and Saturday to be quiet, at-home days, with a few activities that reflect the liturgy and the earth-shaking story being remembered on those days.

The celebration of Easter begins during the Great Vigil of Easter after nightfall on Holy Saturday, continues through Easter Sunday and into the Great 50 Days of Easter that follow. Easter Day is the most important day of the church year, and the 50 days that follow are a wonderful opportunity to explore and celebrate Easter more fully than we can possibly squeeze into a single day.

Further reading: An explanation of the Paschal Triduum

Faith at Home has lots of ideas for your family's Holy Week and Easter.

Barbara Laufersweiler is an at-home mom, an Episcopalian, and the creator of Faith at Home, http://www.faith-at-home.com/ , a Web site offering help to parents as they explore and enjoy faith with their children. Copyright © 2001 Barbara K. Laufersweiler. All rights reserved.

Resources

Holy Week.
Here's something wonderful for family Holy Week activities: the little booklet "Through the Cross," from Candle Press. Using just a few readily available materials, parents and children will find lots to think about, get their hands into, smell, and even taste! There is an activity for each day of Holy Week, or you can choose just one or two of these simple yet powerful ideas. Request a catalog to see all of the inspiring, inexpensive resources Candle Press offers for children and families.

For more information, email Candle Press or visit the press's Web site.


 
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We're interested in your tips, ideas, and articles for Faith at Home. Recipes, traditions, craft and art ideas, music, ...anything children and parents can do to nurture faith will be considered. Please email the editor: editor@faith-at-home.com

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Copyright © 2002 Barbara Laufersweiler
Last updated April 5, 2001

URL: http://www.faith-at-home.com/tips/holy-week.html

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