Pentecost is celebrated 50 days after Easter and is when Christians remember the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the third part of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Trinity is how Christians understand God, and is the means by which God is active on Earth.
In Acts 2:3 it says that after the Ascension, Jesus’ disciples were gathered together when the Holy Spirit descended on them like “tongues of fire”. It was after this event that the disciples began to preach Jesus’ message throughout the world. For this reason Pentecost is viewed as the birthday of the Christian Church and the start of its mission to the world.
Pentecost is a festival of celebration and the church is often decorated in red as a symbol of the “tongues of fire”.
