Bright Week or Renewal Week is the name used by the Eastern Orthodox Church for the period of seven days beginning on Pascha (Easter) and continuing up to (but not including) the following Sunday, which is known as Thomas Sunday. Latin Rite and other Christian groups such as Anglicans refer to this period as Easter Week, not to be confused with the Octave of Easter, which includes the following Sunday.
The entire week following Pascha is to be set aside by Orthodox Christians for the celebration of the Resurrection. According to the 66th canon of the Council in Trullo:
"from the holy day of the Resurrection of Christ our God until New Sunday (i.e. Thomas Sunday) for a whole week the faithful in the holy churches should continually be repeating psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, rejoicing and celebrating Christ, and attending to the reading of the Divine Scriptures and delighting in the Holy Mysteries. For in this way shall we be exalted with Christ; raised up together with Him. For this reason on the aforesaid days that by no means there be any horse races or any other public spectacle".
In Imperial Russia, the taverns used to be closed during Bright Week, and no alcoholic beverages were sold.
Read more about Bright Week: Liturgical Aspects, Paschal Funeral and Paraklesis
Famous quotes containing the words bright and/or week:
“We can rejoice that the time has arrived when millions of Negro Americans can step out of the shadows, and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)
“The press, that goiter of the world, swells up with the desire for conquest and bursts with the achievements which every day brings. A week has room for the boldest climax of the human drive for expansion.”
—Karl Kraus (1874–1936)