I have mentioned before how much I am impressed and moved by the way the Church has coordinated the timing of our great feasts with the annual rhythm of the seasons; or perhaps more accurately, how skilfully she has adopted and adapted the traditions of her ancestry, deriving a springtime Easter from Jewish Passover – a celebration of liberation – and a winter solstice Christmas from Roman Saturnalia – a celebration of social reversal.The New Testament account allows considerable latitude in how long after the Ascension we might celebrate Pentecost – the name means “50 days” (after Easter), but the name describes the chosen date, not the other way around. The timing is related to the Jewish Feast of Weeks, Shavuot, and probably to the wider pagan May fe