Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday, also known as Monday of the Holy Spirit, is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost, a moveable feast in the Christian liturgical calendar. It is moveable because it is determined by the date of Easter. In the Catholic Church, it is the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, marking the resumption of Ordinary Time.
Medieval Russian icon of the Old Testament Trinity by Andrei Rublev, used as the icon of the feast for Whit Monday.
Pentecost is a Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Mary, mother of Jesus and the Apostles of Jesus while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles. While the Catholic Church believes the Holy Spirit descended upon Mary, this is not recorded in the New Testament.
Fresco of the Pentecostal dove (representing the Holy Spirit) at the Karlskirche in Vienna, Austria
A typical Western image of the Pentecost. Duccio di Buoninsegna (1308).
The Pentecost depicted in a 14th-century Missal
A Protestant church altar, decorated for Pentecost with red burning candles and red banners and altar cloth depicting the movement of the Holy Spirit
