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:
“Do you know why I came to you, Amy? Why I came to be your friend? Because you called to me. Out of your loneliness you called me and brought me into being. And I came, so that your childhood could be bright and full of friendliness. Now you must send me away.... You’ll remember me for a while, mourn a little, but then you’ll forget. And that is as it should be.”
—Dewitt Bodeen (1908–1988)
“It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond-side; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct. It is true, I fear, that others may have fallen into it, and so helped to keep it open.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)