easter saturdayHappy Maundy Thursday, everyone! You know, Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter. The day, according to the Bible, before Jesus was arrested and crucified. Not a real party kind of holiday, but a big part of the whole Holy Week thing. On Maundy Thursday, Jesus and his disciples held the Last Supper (aka a Seder).

So, Christians across the globe are celebrating today, and many will attend services tomorrow for another biggie in Holy Week -- Good Friday. And then (drum roll) we have Easter! Easter Sunday is like Super Bowl Sunday on the Christian calendar. Singing! Rejoicing! Peeps out the wahzoo!

Methinks Saturday may be feeling a little left out.

Yeah, you've got all of these days with names, marked in bold on the calendars, and then, mushed in the middle, comes Saturday. Some call it Holy Saturday, but not many. Poor Saturday.

Take today: Maundy Thursday. Maundy, which some dude who knew Latin made up from mandatum. Kinda like mandate, it means to give or entrust. Big guns, this Maundy Thursday. And it has, like, a bazillion other names: Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Great and Holy Thursday (jeez, great AND holy?), and, my fave, Thursday of Mysteries (which sounds like a primetime TV line-up on Lifetime). Maundy Thursday is pretty much a rockstar day.

Then there's Good Friday, which is, ahem, pretty fantastic for Christians as this is the day that Jesus was crucified and sacrificed himself for our sins. Yeah, hel-lo eternal life. Good Friday may also be called Holy Friday or Great Friday, and it really doesn't need a whole lot of other names because most Christians are busy with many church services. Oh, and we all get the day off from work, kids are off from school. Yes, another rockstar day.

Then, we hit Easter Sunday. Also known as Resurrection Day, it is a huge, amazing day. The end of Lent, the celebration of Jesus rising from the dead. I mean, it doesn't get much bigger than this. Hats are donned, baskets are filled, families gather, faith is reaffirmed.

But wait, you say, what about Saturday? Good question. I have to think Saturday feels a little like the middle child, not the youngest, not the oldest, just kinda there. It needs a name. Like Waiting for Something Big to Happen Saturday. Or We May Be Screwed Saturday ... because at that point, the disciples didn't know Jesus was going to resurrect, right? Or maybe Gotta Have a Lot of Faith Right Now Saturday.   

Saturday deserves a name. What do you think?

Happy Easter, everyone!

 

Image via fotologic/Flickr