When Is Pentecost in 2024, and How Long Does This Celebration Last?

Pentecost depiction of Bible with dove as the Holy Spirit

Pentecost is a celebration that some Christians observe each year. While it always takes place after Easter, the fluctuation of the date leaves many wondering, "When is Pentecost?" And in 2024, it's coming up very soon!

Looking at the roots of this church holiday takes us back to the earliest days of the Old Testament, well before the birth of Jesus Christ. There, we find a biblical outline for the Jewish festival, Shavuot, or Feast of Weeks (see Leviticus 23:15-21, Numbers 28:26-31 and Deuteronomy 16:9-12). Traditionally a grain harvest festival, over time, it also became a commemoration of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. 

According to the second chapter of Acts, this festival is the reason why multitudes of Jews were gathered in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2:9-10 lists the native regions of the masses: "Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs."

3,000+ lives were forever changed that day, as the Holy Spirit came upon followers of Jesus Christ. After a powerful sermon from Peter, many believed and were baptized. This remarkable event is what the church celebrates every spring.

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When Is Pentecost in 2024?

Pentecost Sunday takes place on May 19 in 2024—seven weeks after Easter.

For Orthodox Christians (and others who follow the Gregorian calendar), Pentecost will be observed on Sunday, June 23, 2024 (seven weeks after Orthodox Easter).

Following the Hebrew calendar, the Jewish festival of Shavuot begins at sundown on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, concluding at nightfall on Thursday, June 13, 2024.

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What Is Pentecost?

While it has Jewish roots, Pentecost is a Christian feast day celebrating the arrival of the Holy Spirit on believers in Jesus Christ. The biblical account, found in Acts 2, tells the account of a sudden change in the atmosphere of the place where many were gathered. Amidst a violent wind, tongues like fire came and rested on the Galilean Jews, who began speaking in the native tongues of all the people. 

Today, those churches who observe all or parts of the liturgical church calendar celebrate Pentecost Sunday at the conclusion of the Easter season, known as Eastertide. Following this Sunday, a celebratory time remembering the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the beginning of the church, believers move into a calendar season known as Ordinary Time.

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How Many Days After Passover Is Pentecost?

In Christianity, Pentecost is celebrated fifty days after Easter.

However, the Judaism calendar observes different holidays. There's actually a bit of confusion about whether or not a Jewish Pentecost exists. Pentecost comes from the ancient Greek word for "fiftieth." So, any reference to the Jewish festival as "pentecost" is referring to the number of days between Passover and the Jewish festival of Shavuot.

From the website, alephbeta.org: "According to the Torah, it took seven weeks for the Israelites to travel from Egypt to Mount Sinai. The name Shavuot, meaning “weeks,” refers to this seven-week period... In the days of the Temple, the counting marked the seven weeks from the wheat harvest on the spring festival of Passover, to the harvesting of barley on Shavuot."

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How Long Does Pentecost Last?

The Christian festival of Pentecost lasts for only one day, seven weeks (or fifty days) after Easter Sunday.

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