Monday, June 24, is Orthodox Holy Spirit Monday and is a public holiday in Greece. It falls the day after Pentecost and fifty days after Greek Orthodox Easter. As a national holiday official offices, schools, colleges and many general businesses are closed. However as it falls at the beginning of the summer season, restaurants, bars and tourist related venues and businesses stay open.

The celebration relates to the biblical story that 50-days after the Resurrection of Christ, the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and the church of Jerusalem. It happened during the Jewish feast of Shavuot, a celebration of the giving of the ‘Ten Commandments’ to Moses on Mount Sinai.

As the Apostles were amongst this crowd, the gospel stories relay that the Holy Spirit descended on them as tongues of fire, enabling them to preach to the assembled crowds, speaking to each person in a language he or she could understand.

The word Pentecost comes from the Greek word ‘pentekostos’ which means the fiftieth day. It is considered the birthday of the Christian church for two reasons. Firstly, the descent of the Holy Spirit completed the Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the basis of Christian theology. Secondly, it was the first time that the Apostles began to spread their faith to the masses.

Festivities for Pentecost begin on the Friday or Saturday before the day itself. The Sunday is also known as Trinity Sunday. Public celebrations, which tend to be local and church related such as local fairs, for example, are held on the Saturday.  The largest churches in cities, villages and islands hold services and the town centres have the biggest and most colourful festivals.