# Question on using the term "high holidays" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 16, 2019, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-using-the-term-high-holidays/832607 "2019-04-16T01:21:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-using-the-term-high-holidays/832607/21 "2019-04-16T22:59:53Z")
Catholic here: The exact term “high holy days” is particular to Judaism, in English anyway. But there are Catholic equivalents. The week from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday is called Holy Week, which contains the Triduum. Beginning the night of Holy Thursday (called Maundy Thursday in the Anglican tradition, after the word mandatum, commandment – it is the commemoration of the Last Supper, when Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment to “love one another”), through Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday, is the holiest period of the liturgical year, this is the Triduum; because there are three nights. Christmas is a Holy Day of Obligation (which only means you have to attend a Mass whether it falls on Sunday or not, along with a number of other celebrations which have not been secularized, included the Solemnity of Mary (January 1st), the Assumption (Mary is ‘assumed’ into heaven), The Immaculate Conception (Mary again – celebrating her being born without sin), the Ascension (Jesus ascends to heaven after Pentecost), All Saints (day after All Souls which is Halloween). By the way, the solar/lunar formula that determines when Easter falls each year deliberately ensures that it does not coincide exactly with Passover. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-using-the-term-high-holidays/832607/22 "2019-04-17T03:15:48Z")
> [@Emiliana](#): > > I knew not to wish someone a happy Yom Kippur, but is there something that \*is \*appropriate to say to recognize the importance of the day to a friend, colleague, etc.? Have a cleansingly rueful Yom Kippur? And some chicken soup. Eat it! It’s good for you! ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-using-the-term-high-holidays/832607/23 "2019-04-17T03:28:24Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Catholic here: > > The exact term “high holy days” is particular to Judaism, in English anyway. But there are Catholic equivalents. > > The week from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday is called Holy Week, which contains the Triduum. > > Beginning the night of Holy Thursday (called Maundy Thursday in the Anglican tradition, after the word mandatum, commandment – it is the commemoration of the Last Supper, when Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment to “love one another”), through Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday, is the holiest period of the liturgical year, this is the Triduum; because there are three nights. > > Christmas is a Holy Day of Obligation (which only means you have to attend a Mass whether it falls on Sunday or not, along with a number of other celebrations which have not been secularized, included the Solemnity of Mary (January 1st), the Assumption (Mary is ‘assumed’ into heaven), The Immaculate Conception (Mary again – celebrating her being born without sin), the Ascension (Jesus ascends to heaven after Pentecost), All Saints (day after All Souls which is Halloween). > > By the way, the solar/lunar formula that determines when Easter falls each year deliberately ensures that it does not coincide exactly with Passover. Thanks Ulfreida. I found this using the words ‘high holy’: "The fifty days of Easter (or Eastertide) constitute the high holy season of the Christian year of grace. " A Prayer Book of Catholic Devotions: Praying the Seasons and Feasts of the … > **[A Prayer Book of Catholic Devotions](https://books.google.com/books?id=9M9YujCecSIC&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq=Catholic%2Bhigh%2Bholy%2Bdays%2Bof%2BEaster&source=bl&ots=kxVs69zzQw&sig=ACfU3U1zvHddTzey8pkMy1MqUeyJLiQ65Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwilntaOltbhAhWTfd4KHSdJB-w4FBDoATAAegQIChAB#v=onepage&q=Catholic%20high%20holy%20days%20of%20Easter&f=false)** > > This Catholic prayer book by best-selling author William G. Storey contains some of the best traditional devotions to assist in daily prayer throughout the liturgical year. Strongly biblical in tone and content, A Prayer Book of Catholic Devotions... and here: Triduum - The Catholic Company [https://www.catholiccompany.com/getfed/the-easter-triduum-what-is-it/](https://www.catholiccompany.com/getfed/the-easter-triduum-what-is-it/) A commenter writes: “This is an excellent summary of the Easter Triduum and anything that helps to promote these high holy days of the church are deeply appreciated.” ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-using-the-term-high-holidays/832607/24 "2019-04-17T22:33:48Z")
When I told my wife about this thread and my response, she reminded me that the phrase, “Wish you well over the fast” is apparently British and we saw it on a sign in a restaurant in a restaurant in the east end of London called Blooms, that we ate in 55 years ago. But I have used it and I still think entirely appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-using-the-term-high-holidays/832607/25 "2019-04-17T23:06:44Z")
> [@Emiliana](#): > > I knew not to wish someone a happy Yom Kippur, but is there something that \*is \*appropriate to say to recognize the importance of the day to a friend, colleague, etc.? I generally use “meaningful” when I am not sure of the nature of some holiday. (There is some kind of Chinese Cemetery holiday which friends observe and I still don’t know what the perceived function or mood is supposed to be. And I can never remember its official name.) “Meaningful” covers everything from Easter to Diwali to Yom Kippur to Talk Like a Pirate Day. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-using-the-term-high-holidays/832607/26 "2019-04-17T23:09:04Z")
PS Among my people, the “high holy days” refer to what the non-observant would call “Big Game Week”. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-using-the-term-high-holidays/832607/27 "2019-04-17T23:47:15Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > Kayaker was making a joke. This coming Saturday is 4/20, a.k.a. a day to celebrate [marijuana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/420_(cannabis_culture)). Only partially joking. Cannabis has contributed in an extremely positive way to my life. And it’s real, which is more than I believe about the gods people worship. Puff and then to the left.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-using-the-term-high-holidays/832607/28 "2019-04-18T04:39:29Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’ve been a member of four different Christian denominations (Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, CMA), and haven’t ever heard the term used in reference to Christian holidays. > . Some branches of the various Orthodox Catholic Churches that I know of sometimes use the term “High Holy Days” to differentiate from the various “feast days” we observed. But some of us on the Russian Orthodox side tend to be a bit Petrine in our doctrine and a fair amount of the Jewish traditions, in a sense, are followed. It is fading somewhat as even the Original Ritualists have advanced slightly (call it roughly the yeat 1550 🙂 ) but it still crops up now and then. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-using-the-term-high-holidays/832607/29 "2019-04-18T10:40:48Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Some branches of the various Orthodox Catholic Churches that I know of sometimes use the term “High Holy Days” to differentiate from the various “feast days” we observed. But some of us on the Russian Orthodox side tend to be a bit Petrine in our doctrine and a fair amount of the Jewish traditions, in a sense, are followed. It is fading somewhat as even the Original Ritualists have advanced slightly (call it roughly the yeat 1550 🙂 ) but it still crops up now and then. Thanks kopek for confirming what I had heard. Thank you all. ---
**Author:** ![KMS94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ad7895/32.png) [@KMS94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KMS94)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-using-the-term-high-holidays/832607/30 "2019-04-20T04:26:16Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > For many of us not entrenched in judeo-christian ideology, this coming Saturday is our high holiday. I’m not religious, never heard the term “high holiday.” I clicked the link thinking this was surely about 4/20. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-using-the-term-high-holidays/832607.md?page=1)