Feast of the Annunciation

{{main|Annunciation}}

The "angelic salutation" of Gabriel to Mary is recorded in the Gospel of Luke: "Hail, full of grace, the {{Lord}} is with thee" ({{bibleref2-nb|Luke|1:28|DRA}}; Latin Vulgate: {{bibleref2|Luke|1:28|VULGATE|ave gratia plena Dominus tecum}}), and Mary's response to God's will; "be it done to me according to thy word" ({{bibleref2|Luke|1:38|DRA}}; Vulgate: {{bibleref2|Luke|1:38|VULGATE|fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum}}).{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/annunciation.shtml |title=The Feast of the Annunciation |publisher=BBC |access-date=22 February 2024}}

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.{{Cite web |url=http://holyfamilysisters.org/default.aspx?c=193&d=3%2f25%2f2011 |title=Annunciation of the Lord |publisher=Holy Family Sisters |access-date=27 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325191035/http://holyfamilysisters.org/default.aspx?c=193&d=3%2f25%2f2011 |archive-date=25 March 2014 |url-status=dead }}

The earliest evidence for a Feast of the Annunciation or Incarnation is from the sixth century,{{cite book |title=Historical Dictionary of Catholicism |last1=Collinge|first1=William J. |year=2012 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |page=38}}{{cite book |last=Bartlett |first=Robert |author1-link=Robert Bartlett (historian) |title=Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?: Saints and Worshippers from the Martyrs to the Reformation |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=154}} although the Catholic News Agency dates it to the fifth century. The first certain mentions of the feast are in a canon, of the Council of Toledo in 656, where it was described as celebrated throughout the Church, and in another of the Council of Constantinople "in Trullo" in 692, which forbade the celebration of any festivals during Lent, excepting the Lord's Day (Sunday) and the Feast of the Annunciation. 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.

From the earliest recorded history, the feast has been celebrated on 25 March, commemorating both the belief that the spring equinox was not only the day of God's act of Creation but also the beginning of Christ's redemption of that same Creation. Christian antiquity held 25 March as the actual day of Jesus' death.{{cite web |last=Pronechen |first=Joseph |url=https://www.ncregister.com/blog/why-march-25-the-annunciation-was-once-new-year-s-day |title=Why March 25, the Annunciation, Was Once New Year's Day |date=25 March 2019 |publisher=National Catholic Register |access-date=22 February 2024 }} The opinion that the Incarnation also took place on that date is found in the pseudo-Cyprianic work De Pascha Computus, c. 240. It says that the coming of Jesus and his death must have coincided with the creation and fall of Adam. Since the world was created in spring, Christ was also conceived and died shortly after the equinox of spring. Similar calculations are found in the early and later Middle Ages, and to them, the dates of the feast of the Annunciation and of Christmas owe their origin. Consequently the ancient martyrologies assign to 25 March the creation of Adam and the crucifixion of Jesus; also, the fall of Lucifer, the passing of Israel through the Red Sea and the immolation of Isaac.{{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary |first=Frederick George |last=Holweck |volume=1}} 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.Golden Legend, vol. 3, the Annunciation.

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.

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.{{cite web |url=https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2019/03/25/100884-the-annunciation-of-our-most-holy-lady-the-theotokos-and-ever-vi |title=The Annunciation of our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary |publisher=Orthodox Church in America |access-date=22 February 2024}}

Greek Independence Day is celebrated on the feast of the Annunciation.{{Cite web |last=Βλάχτσης |first=Νίκος |date=2025-03-22 |title=Greek Independence Day – Government and Politics |url=https://www.mfa.gr/uk/en/about-greece/government-and-politics/greek-independence-day.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150628023721/http://www.mfa.gr/uk/en/about-greece/government-and-politics/greek-independence-day.html |archive-date=2015-06-28 |access-date=2025-03-22 |website=www.mfa.gr |language=en}}

Lebanon observes 25 March as a national holiday.{{Cite web |date=2021-05-05 |title=Embassy Holiday Closures – THE EMBASSY OF LEBANON |url=https://www.lebanonembassyus.org/2021/05/05/embassy-holiday-closures/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616111020/https://www.lebanonembassyus.org/2021/05/05/embassy-holiday-closures/ |archive-date=2021-06-16 |access-date=2025-03-22 |language=en-US}} 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.[https://elaph.com/Web/news/2010/3/546291.html عيد رسمي مشترك مسيحي- إسلامي في لبنان] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307192923/http://elaph.com/Web/news/2010/3/546291.html|date=07 مارس 2016}} President Michel Suleiman described the holiday as a "Common Religious National Day" in a speech before the United Nations General Assembly.{{Cite web |last=Suleiman |first=Michel |date=2013-09-24 |title=Statement by H.E. General Michel Suleiman President of the Republic of Lebanon at the Sixty-Eighth Session of the United Nations General Assembly |url=https://www.un.int/lebanon/sites/www.un.int/files/Lebanon/Documents/LatestNews/address_by_h.e._general_michel_sleiman_at_the_sixty-eighth_session_of_the_unga_september_24_2013.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250322113831/https://www.un.int/lebanon/sites/www.un.int/files/Lebanon/Documents/LatestNews/address_by_h.e._general_michel_sleiman_at_the_sixty-eighth_session_of_the_unga_september_24_2013.pdf |archive-date=2025-03-22 |access-date=2025-03-22 |website=UN.int}}

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). The calculation hypothesis relies on the date for the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25 to date the Feast of the Nativity of Jesus (Christmas) on December 25, as Mary carried Jesus in the womb for nine months.{{cite book |last1=English |first1=Adam C. |title=Christmas: Theological Anticipations |date=October 14, 2016 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-4982-3933-2 |page=70 |language=English |quote=According to {{Bibleverse|Luke|1:26|KJV}}, 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 September 24 we arrive at March 25, the most likely date for the annunciation and conception of Mary. Nine months hence takes us to December 25, 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 May 20). The Basilidian Christians held to the eleventh or fifteen of Tubi (January 6 and 10). 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 November 18. Other Alexandrian and Egyptian Christians adopted January 4 or 5. 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, January 6. ... According to researcher Susan Roll, the Chronograph or Philocalian Calendar is the earliest authentic document to place the birth of Jesus on December 25. ... And we should remember that although the Chronograph provides the first record of December 25, the custom of venerating the Lord's birth on that day was most likely established well before its publication. That is to say, December 25 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.}}

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.

Pope John Paul II established 25 March as the International Day of the Unborn Child, for its commemoration of the conception of Jesus.{{Cite web |url=http://www.illinoisknights.org/mary/programs/life/FeastofAnnunciation.pdf |title="Feast of the Annunciation", Illinois Knights |access-date=9 October 2014 |archive-date=14 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141014194546/http://www.illinoisknights.org/mary/programs/life/FeastofAnnunciation.pdf |url-status=dead }}

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Annunciation

Category:March observances

Category:Marian feast days

Category:Lutheran liturgy and worship

Category:Christian feast days