Latest news with #KristiHimmelfartsdag

Local Norway

Norwegian word of the day: Kristi Himmelfartsdag

Kristi Himmelfartsdag literally translates as Christ's heaven travel day, which pretty accurately describes why the day is celebrated. It always falls 40 days after Easter, which also means that it's always on a Thursday. Like Easter, the date is decided based on the cycle of the moon, so the date varies each year. The etymology behind the name of the holiday is interesting, as the word Kristi is actually a unique genitive form of the Norwegian word for Christ, Kristus. Speakers of German and most Slavic languages will know that the genitive case is used when talking about possession. In English and in Norwegian, this is expressed by adding an -s to the end of the person or thing to who the object belongs to (e.g. the man's house or mannens hus ) – So Kristi Himmelfartsdag should be written literally as Christ's journey to heaven day or Kristus Himmelfartsdag . Advertisement However, in Latin, the genitive form of Christus is Christi. In religious contexts, Norwegian has imported this form of the word as Kristi. Himmel , the second bit of the word, is the Norwegian word for heaven, and fart means speed or motion. Finally, dag is the word for day. The day is a red day, or rød dag, and has remained so even after Norway split the church from the state in 2017. Ascension Day, therefore, means a day of work and school for most people in Norway. As the holiday always falls on a Thursday, Friday is an inneklemt dag , meaning it is squeezed between a public holiday and a weekend. This means many who have planned ahead will have also booked the Friday off to enjoy four days off.