MAUNDY THURSDAY
Maundy Thursday is also commonly referred to as Covenant Thursday, Holy Thursday, Great and Holy Thursday, Sheer Thursday, Shere Thursday, Thursday before Easter, and Thursday of Mysteries. It is a Christian feast (holy day) falling on the Thursday before Easter. It commemorates the Maundy and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles as described in the Canonical gospels. It is the fifth day of Holy Week, it follows Spy Wednesday and preceeds Good Friday. The date is movable, it is the Thursday before Easter, which is the first Sunday after the full moon following the northern hemisphere's vernal equinox. The Earliest date possible for Maundy Thursday is March 19th and the latest date is April 22nd. The celebration can occur on different days depending on whether the Gregorian or Julian calendar is used. Eastern churches generally use the Julian calendar, in the 21st century, this would correspond to the range of April 1st through May 5th in the Gregorian calendar.
MAUNDY THURSDAY OBSERVATIONS AND CELEBRATIONS
Maundy Thursday is a public Holiday in Denmark, Colombia, Iceland, Norway, Paraguay, the Philippines, and (Most of) Spain. In Bulgaria, Maundy Thursday is called Veliki Chetvurtuk (Great Thursday), it is a preparation day for Razpeti Petuk (Crucifixion Friday) Velika Subota (Great Saturday) and Velikden (Easter Day). In the Czech Republic, Maundy Thursday is called Zelený čtvrtek (Green Thursday), Church bells are silent from this day until Holy Saturday In Denmark, Maundy Thursday is called Skærtorsdag, it is a public holiday. In England, Maundy Thursday is celebrated with the King or Queen giving "alms" to deserving senior citizens (one man and one woman for each year of the sovereign's age). Until the death of King James II, the Monarch would also wash the feet of the selected poor people. In Germany, Maundy Thursday is called Gründonnerstag (Mourning Thursday or Green Thursday), Hoher Donnerstag (High Thursday), Heiliger Donnerstag (Holy Thursday), or Weißer Donnerstag (White Thursday). In Kerala, India, Saint Thomas Christians call this day as "Pesaha" or "Pesaha Yasashchya", it is an important Public holiday commemorating the last supper of Jesus Christ. In Luxembourg, on Maundy Thursday the Church bells are also silent until Holy Saturday. In Malta, Maundy Thursday is called Ħamis ix-Xirka (Communion Thursday), it features is-seba' visti or is-Sepulkri (the visiting of seven churches). In Norway, Maundy Thursday is called Skjærtorsdag, it is a public holiday. In the Philippines, the majority of business establishments close from Holy (Maundy) Thursday to Black Saturday. In Slovakia, Maundy Thursday is called Zelený štvrtok (Green Thursday), Church bells are also silent from this day until Holy Saturday. In Sweden, Maundy Thursday is called Skärtorsdagen, it is celebrated as the day of the witches. Children dress as witches and go door to door getting coins or candy in exchange for easter eggs. In Wales, Maundy Thursday is called Dydd Iau Cablyd.