Feast of the Annunciation

Feast of the Annunciation
The Annunciation by Paolo de Matteis.
Also calledAnnunciation Day, Lady Day, Our Lady's Day in Lent, Feast of the Incarnation, Conceptio Christi
Observed byChristianity
TypeChristian
Significancecelebrates the annunciation of Jesus's conception and incarnation
Date25 March
Frequencyannual
Related toExpectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Feast of the Visitation, Christmas, March equinox
Lutheran priest elevating the host during High Mass at Västerled Church (Bromma, Sweden) on the Feast of the Annunciation, 2026

The Feast of the Annunciation or Solemnity of the Annunciation commemorates the announcement of the archangel Gabriel to Mary, that she would miraculously conceive and give birth to a son, becoming the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, marking his incarnation. It is celebrated on 25 March, which is nine months before Christmas in Western Christianity and the traditional date of the spring equinox. However, if 25 March falls either in Holy Week or in Easter Week, the feast is postponed to the Monday after the Second Sunday of Easter. Other names for the feast include Annunciation Day, Lady Day, the Feast of the Incarnation, and Conceptio Christi (Christ's Conception).

The Feast of the Annunciation is observed almost universally throughout Christianity, especially within the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Lutheranism, and Anglicanism. It is a major Marian feast, classified as a solemnity in the Catholic Church, a Festival in Lutheranism, and a Principal Feast in the Anglican Communion. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, because it announces the incarnation of Christ, it is counted as one of the eight great feasts of the Lord.[1] The importance attached to the Annunciation, especially in the Catholic Church, are the Angelus and the Hail Mary prayers, the event's position as the first Joyful Mystery of the Dominican Rosary, the Novena for the Feast of the Annunciation,[2] and the numerous depictions of the Annunciation in Christian art.

Biblical narrative

Main article: Annunciation

The "angelic salutation" of Gabriel to Mary is recorded in the Gospel of Luke: "Hail, full of grace, the LORD is with thee" (1:28; Latin Vulgate: ave gratia plena Dominus tecum), and Mary's response to God's will; "be it done to me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38; Vulgate: fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum).[3]

The "angelic salutation" is the origin of the Hail Mary prayer and the Angelus; the second part of the prayer comes from the salutation of Saint Elizabeth to Mary at the Visitation.[4]

History

In the words of historian Robert Barlett, "the natural consequence of adopting a day for Jesus's birth was the ability to calculate a day for his conception nine months earlier, and so, as 25 December became generally accepted as the date of Christmas, 25 March rose into prominence too, and, just as Christmas had the added significance of being the old winter solstice, so 25 March was the old vernal equinox".[5]

The date of 25 March was chosen due to it being nine months before 25 December, and its association with the spring equinox and the anniversary of creation. The ancient Babylonian calendar began around the spring equinox, in the month of Nissānu, at which time they celebrated the Zagmuk festival and recited their creation myth, the Enūma Eliš.[6][7] Due to Babylonian influence, the beginning of the religious year in the Hebrew calendar shifted to the spring equinox and the Passover festival, with Nisan being the first month.[8][9]

From the 3rd century, various Christian writers dated the anniversary of the world's creation to the spring equinox. Creation was seen as a time of perfect equilibrium, and since day and night are equal on the equinox, this was linked to the separation of light and dark in the Genesis creation story.[10] They also dated Jesus's death or resurrection to the spring equinox, partly because it was linked to the date of Passover and partly because the spring equinox was linked with new life and increasing light.[11]

In the Roman Julian calendar, 25 March was the date of the spring equinox. In AD 221, Sextus Julius Africanus suggested that the spring equinox on 25 March was the date of Jesus's conception, and linked it to the anniversary of the world's creation.[12][13] The pseudo-Cyprianic work De Pascha Computus, c.243, dates the first day of creation to the spring equinox on 25 March and dates Jesus's birth to 28 March, the anniversary of the sun's creation on the fourth day.[14]

At first, the Feast of the Annunciation or Incarnation seems to have been celebrated on the Sunday before Christmas.[15] The earliest evidence for a Feast of the Annunciation on 25 March is from the sixth century. According to a letter of the emperor Justinian I, the feast on that date originated with the church in Constantinople around AD 555.[16][15] The Church in Spain "acknowledged that the Feast of the Annunciation would constantly become entangled either with Lent or with Easter", so at the Tenth Council of Toledo in 656 it ordered the feast be moved to 18 December, which became the Feast of the Expectation of Mary. The Quinisext Council, held in Constantinople in 692, allowed the Annunciation to be an exception to the rule that no feasts be held during Lent.[17]

A Synod of Worcester, England in 1240 forbade all servile work on the feast. As this feast celebrates the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity, many Church Fathers, including St. Athanasius, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Augustine, have expounded on it.[2]

In the tradition of the Western Churches (Catholic Church, Anglican, Lutheran, and Western Rite Orthodoxy), the feast is moved if necessary to prevent it from falling during Holy Week or Easter Week or on a Sunday on the liturgical calendars. To avoid a Sunday before Holy Week, the next day (26 March) would be observed instead. In years such as 2016, 2018, and 2024 when 25 March fell within Holy Week or Easter Week, the Annunciation is moved to the Monday after the Octave of Easter, i.e., the Monday after the Second Sunday of Easter.[18]

In the tradition of the Eastern churches, (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental, and Eastern Catholic) the feast of the Annunciation is never moved under any circumstance. They have special combined liturgies for those years when the Annunciation coincides with another feast. In these churches, even on Good Friday a Divine Liturgy is celebrated when it coincides with the Annunciation.[19]

Medieval martyrologies assign to 25 March the creation of Adam and the crucifixion of Jesus; also, the fall of Lucifer, the passing of the Israelites through the Red Sea and the immolation of Isaac.[18] The Medieval Golden Legend identifies 25 March as not only the date of Creation and Annunciation, but also a large number of other significant events in salvation history, including Good Friday of Christ's crucifixion and death.[20]

Greek Independence Day is celebrated on the feast of the Annunciation.[21]

Lebanon observes 25 March as a national holiday.[22] In 2010, the Council of Ministers of Lebanon agreed to a proposal by Prime Minister Saad Hariri to proclaim the day in the interest of interfaith dialogue, as the Annunciation is described in both Christian and the Islamic texts.[23] President Michel Suleiman described the holiday as a "Common Religious National Day" in a speech before the United Nations General Assembly.[24]

The date is close to the vernal equinox, as Christmas is to the winter solstice; because of this the Annunciation and Christmas were two of the four "quarter days" in medieval and early modern England, which marked the divisions of the fiscal year (the other two were Midsummer Day, or the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, on 24 June, and Michaelmas, the feast day of St. Michael, on 29 September).[25] The calculation hypothesis relies on the date for the Feast of the Annunciation on 25 March to date the Feast of the Nativity of Jesus (Christmas) on 25 December, as Mary carried Jesus in the womb for nine months.[26]

When the calendar system of Anno Domini was first introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in AD 525, he assigned the beginning of the new year to 25 March, because according to Christian doctrine, the age of grace began with the Incarnation of Christ at the Annunciation, on which date Jesus Christ is believed to have been conceived in the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit.[25]

Pope John Paul II established 25 March as the International Day of the Unborn Child, for its commemoration of the conception of Jesus.[27]

References

  1. ^ "The Major Feasts of the Church". Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  3. ^ "The Feast of the Annunciation". BBC. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  4. ^ "Annunciation of the Lord". Holy Family Sisters. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  5. ^ Bartlett, Robert (2015). Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?: Saints and Worshippers from the Martyrs to the Reformation. Princeton University Press. p. 152.
  6. ^ Krupp, Edwin (2012). Echoes of the Ancient Skies: The Astronomy of Lost Civilizations. Dover Publications. p. 203.
  7. ^ Ristvet, Lauren (2015). Ritual, Performance, and Politics in the Ancient Near East. Cambridge University Press. p. 153.
  8. ^ Kelley, David (2011). Exploring Ancient Skies A Survey of Ancient and Cultural Astronomy. Springer. p. 219. for a time, the Jews adopted the Babylonian beginning point of the year near the March equinox with the month Nisan/Nissanu
  9. ^ Roll, Susan K. (1995). Towards the Origin of Christmas. Kok Pharos Publishing. p. 59. ISBN 978-90-390-0531-6.
  10. ^ Roll, p.64
  11. ^ Roll, pp.74, 88-89
  12. ^ Roll, p.87 "Sextus Julius Africanus, before 221: 22 March = the (first) day of creation; 25 March = both the annunciation and the resurrection".
  13. ^ Nothaft, C. Philipp E. (2011). Dating the Passion: The Life of Jesus and the Emergence of Scientific Chronology. Brill. pp. 56–59.
  14. ^ Roll, pp.81-82
  15. ^ a b Bradshaw, Paul (2011). The Origins of Feasts, Fasts and Seasons in Early Christianity. Liturgical Press. pp. 205–206. The precise origins of the 25 March feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord, however, remain a mystery. Although 25 March is important in the Computation hypothesis for determining the 25 December date of Christmas, there is no evidence for this date [25 March] being a commemoration specifically of the annunciation until the middle of the sixth century in the Christian East, and only later in the West. Constantinople itself has been credited with the origins of the feast in 550, according to a letter of the Emperor Justinian, as well as hymns for the feast composed by Romanus the Melodist in the same year.
  16. ^ Collinge, William J. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Catholicism. Scarecrow Press. p. 38.
  17. ^ Bartlett, Robert (2015). Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?: Saints and Worshippers from the Martyrs to the Reformation. Princeton University Press. p. 154.
  18. ^ a b Holweck, Frederick George (1907). "Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  19. ^ "The Annunciation of our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary". Orthodox Church in America. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  20. ^ Golden Legend, vol. 3, the Annunciation.
  21. ^ Βλάχτσης, Νίκος (22 March 2025). "Greek Independence Day – Government and Politics". www.mfa.gr. Archived from the original on 28 June 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  22. ^ "Embassy Holiday Closures – THE EMBASSY OF LEBANON". 5 May 2021. Archived from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  23. ^ عيد رسمي مشترك مسيحي- إسلامي في لبنان Archived 2016-03-07 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ Suleiman, Michel (24 September 2013). "Statement by H.E. General Michel Suleiman President of the Republic of Lebanon at the Sixty-Eighth Session of the United Nations General Assembly" (PDF). UN.int. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 March 2025. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  25. ^ a b Pronechen, Joseph (25 March 2019). "Why March 25, the Annunciation, Was Once New Year's Day". National Catholic Register. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  26. ^ English, Adam C. (14 October 2016). Christmas: Theological Anticipations. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-4982-3933-2. According to Luke 1:26, Gabriel's annunciation to Mary took place in the "sixth month" of Elizabeth's pregnancy. That is, Mary conceives sixth months after Elizabeth. Luke repeats the uniqueness of the timing in verse 26. Counting six months from 24 September we arrive at 25 March, the most likely date for the annunciation and conception of Mary. Nine months hence takes us to 25 December, which turns out to be a surprisingly reasonable date for the birthday [of Jesus]. Someone might object that the birth could not have occurred in midwinter because it would have been too cold for shepherds in the fields keeping watch by night (Luke 2:8). Not so. In Palestine, the months of November through February mark the rainy season, the only time of the year sheep might find fresh green grass to graze. During the other ten months of the year, animals must content themselves on dry straw. So, the suggestion that shepherds might have stayed out in the fields with their flocks in late December, at the peak of the rainy season, is not only reasonable, it is most certain. ... And so, besides considering the timing of the conception, we must take note of the earliest church records. We have evidence from the second century, less than fifty years after the close of the New Testament, that Christians were remembering and celebrating the birth of the Lord. It is not true to say that the observance of the nativity was imposed on Christians hundreds of years later by imperial decree or by a magisterial church ruling. The observance sprang up organically from the authentic devotion of ordinary believers. This in itself is important. But, besides the fact that early Christians did celebrate the incarnation of the Lord, we should make note that they did not agree upon a set date for the observance. There was no one day on which all Christians celebrated Christmas in the early church. Churches in different regions celebrated the nativity on different days. The late second-century Egyptian instructor of Christian disciples, Clement of Alexandria, reported that some believers in his area observed the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth day of the Egyptian month of Parmuthi (the month that corresponds to the Hebrew month of Nisan—approximately 20 May). The Basilidian Christians held to the eleventh or fifteen of Tubi (6 and 10 January). Clement made his own computations by counting backward from the death of Emperor Commodus, the son of Marcus Aurelius. By this method he deduced a birthdate of 18 November. Other Alexandrian and Egyptian Christians adopted 4 or 5 January. In so doing, they replaced the Alexandrian celebration of the birth of Aion, Time, with the birth of Christ. The regions of Nicomedia, Syria, and Caesarea celebrated Christ's birthday on Epiphany, 6 January. ... According to researcher Susan Roll, the Chronograph or Philocalian Calendar is the earliest authentic document to place the birth of Jesus on 25 December. ... And we should remember that although the Chronograph provides the first record of 25 December, the custom of venerating the Lord's birth on that day was most likely established well before its publication. That is to say, 25 December didn't originate with the Chronograph. It must have counted as common knowledge, at least in Rome, to warrant its inclusion in the Chronograph. Soon after this time, we find other church fathers such John Chrysostom, Augustine, Jerome, and Leo confirming the twenty-fifth as the traditional date of celebration.
  27. ^ ""Feast of the Annunciation", Illinois Knights" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
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