10 Ideas to Celebrate Pentecost with Your Family
Celebrated 50 Days after the Resurrection of Our Lord
June 4, 2023
The Feast of Holy Pentecost is celebrated each year on the 50th day after Pascha and 10 days after the Feast of the Ascension of Christ. The Feast is always celebrated on a Sunday and is one of the 12 Great Feasts in the Orthodox Church.
Living Liturgically
Here you’ll find 10 easy ideas to celebrate Ascension as a family - emphasis on easy! As a busy mom with 3 little ones, I know how precious your time is, so I hope to simplify how you celebrate feasts together. In this list you’ll find ways to prepare your kids for Pentecost (i.e. kneeling prayers, song, etc) and you will find fun recipes and stories too. Understanding our faith, especially as a child, is also very important!
As a parent, you are laying a foundation for your children that will potentially stay with them for the rest of their life. We see this very evidently in the Scriptures. Proverbs 22:6 says “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” If we examine the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, Jesus tells us “he who receives the seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” It should be our desire to cultivate a rich soil in the hearts of our children, lead them, and help them understand what is good and true, so it will stay with them all the days of their life.
So how do we cultivate a rich soil in their hearts? By bringing our children to Church, by praying together in our homes, by reading the Scriptures together, by reading the lives of the saints. Said most simply, by living liturgically. The Church offers us an tremendous gift in the Liturgical calendar. By following the liturgical calendar, each year we have a chance to add another layer of soil, which will hopefully produce very rich soil in time and allows our children to make deeper connections and greater understanding. This will take some intention, especially in our modern day and age. My hope is that this ideas will aid you in sharing more about our faith with your children in a way that is developmentally appropriate, allows for their exploration and participation in the feast, and hopefully brings joy to your home!
Scroll to learn more about Pentecost and find 10 ideas to dive deeper into this feast with your family
The story of Pentecost is found in the book of Acts. In Chapter 2, we are told that the Apostles were gathered together in one place and suddenly, a sound came from heaven like a rushing wind, filling the entire house where they were sitting. Then, tongues of fire appeared, and one sat upon each one of Apostles. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as directed by the Spirit (Acts 2:1-4). This caused such a disturbance that others in Jerusalem heard and drew near in shock as they listened to the disciples speaking in their own language. Many believed, and they asked the Apostles, "What shall we do?" and Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38-39). The Bible records that on that day about 3000 were baptized. The book of Acts states that the newly baptized continued daily to hear the teaching of the Apostles, as the early Christians met together for fellowship, the breaking of bread, and for prayer. Many wonderful signs and miracles were done through the Apostles, and the Lord added to the Church daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47).
There are many ways to celebrate this Great Feast with your kids!
Check out this list below for some ideas to help you make this day extra meaningful and even begin some new traditions in your home!
1. Attend Liturgy
If you choose to do one thing, make this your priority! The most important way to celebrate any feasts is to attend Divine Liturgy for the feast! This is how we connect our lives at home with our lives in the church. Our lives ought to be hinged in the Church, as this is where Christ offers us His Life. Jesus tells us “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) We have to attach ourselves to the vine, as often as we are able. Partaking in the Eucharist, giving thanks to God for all He has given us, this is the Christian life. As a family, prioritize attending Divine Liturgy for the 12 Great Feasts. Check with your local parish to find out when the services are being offered.
2. Practice/Prep for Kneeling Prayers
A little prep goes a long way. As an adult, I appreciate having a heads up about what to expect, so I try my best to prepare my kids as well. Interesting fact: Did you know that we do not kneel or make prostrations in Church or in our private prayers at home from Pascha through Pentecost? As kneeling and prostrating are postures of repentance and sorrow for our sins. The brilliant solemnity of the events that we are celebrating takes precedence over such external manifestations of penitence. This is also why we generally do not kneel on any Sunday of the year as each Sunday is a "mini-Pascha," commemorating our Lord's resurrection. However, we resume kneeling at appropriate times during the "Kneeling Vespers" celebrated after the Divine Liturgy for Holy Pentecost.
Prep/Practice: Explain to your children that after the service on Sunday, we will say a few more prayers and make many prostrations. Show them how to make prostrations (you can even practice in front of your icons), so they will be eager and ready when the time comes in the service. This is one of the many services where movement is encouraged and kids usually enjoy it!
3. Sing a Song for Kids about Pentecost
One of the easiest ways for children to learn is memorization through songs. This is especially true for elementary aged children. The song “The Birthday of the Church (Pentecost)” is a great song written with this idea in mind, to help kids learn more about Pentecost. Gigi Baba Shadid is a singer/songwriter and she is also a Priest wife and educator at a classical education school. I highly recommend playing this song with your kids a few times before the feast and singing along with them. You’ll be amazed how easily they pick up the words!
4. Pray to The Holy Spirit
From Pascha until Pentecost, the prayer “O Heavenly King,” where we invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit, is not said either in Church or in our private prayers at home. It’s during this time when we intentionally remove this familiar prayer from our prayers that I long and crave it. The Church provides this change to help emphasize the importance of the descent of the Holy Spirit that we celebrate at Holy Pentecost. “O Heavenly King” will be heard again at the Festal Great Vespers for Pentecost, and it will again return to our services and prayers. This is one of my favorite prayers to sing with the kids. If you are looking to learn a new song/prayer, I highly recommend this one! A friend introduced this tune to us years ago and we’ve been using it ever since! So say or sing a prayer to the Holy Spirit.
5. Wear Green to Liturgy!
The local liturgical color for many churches at Pentecost is green. You can dress your family in green or help your children notice this changes in vestments and clothes throughout the church! Green is the symbol for life, so in the green we can see a connection to themes of “life-giving”: the Holy Spirit which descends on Pentecost is the Life of God dwelling within us!
6. Make "‘Tongues of Fire" Cupcakes
Pentecost is often referred to as the birthday of the Church, so why not try to make some yummy “tongues of fire” cupcakes for dessert today! I guarantee your kids will remember this one and look forward to it each year! You can find the recipe HERE (ps…. it’s super easy!)
Why tongues of fire? In the book of Acts, we see at Pentecost, the Apostles were gathered together in one place and suddenly a sound came roaring from heaven like a rushing wind, filling the entire house where they were sitting. And tongues of fire appeared, and one sat upon each one of Apostles. In iconography, you can see how this is represented above their head. These cupcakes are a fun visual representation to help kids remember the details of Pentecost.
7. Decorate your home with green clippings or flowers!
Beauty will save the world, so says Fyodor Dostoevsky. Why not beautify your home as a reminder of this great feast! After all, God created all living things, including the plants that grow around us. Green is the symbol for life, so in the green we can see a connection to themes of “life-giving”: the Holy Spirit which descends on Pentecost is the Life of God dwelling within us! I find that making a visible change in our home, specifically around our prayer corner, I am reminded of the heavenly realities even more.
8. Listen to a Read Aloud about Pentecost:
Listen to a Podcast ‘Readings from Under the Grapevine’ which includes 2 Read Aloud Stories on Pentecost for kids. Dr Chrissi reads The Feast of Pentecost from the series The Twelve Great Feasts for Children by Sister Elayne (now Mother Melania), The Praises: Psalm 148 Illustrated for children by Niko Chochel.
9. Check out this FREE PRINTABLE for Kids by Orthodox Pebbles
Orthodox Pebbles was probably one of the first Orthodox specific resources I stumbled across when I was searching for materials to teach my oldest daughter about our Orthodox faith. I was very drawn to the vibrant colorful illustrations that resembled Byzantine Iconography. I suggest printing the paper puppets and going over the lesson before the service, to help prepare them. By pointing out the icon and the elements of the icon, they will be excited to see the festal icon at church! Making those connections that these things we learn at home are also reinforced and seen at Church begins to form the foundations of our faith. We begin to see that it is not just our family that believes and lives this way, but it is the whole community as well!
10. Read the story of Pentecost in the Scriptures
For Biblical Stories, we love to read them directly from the source! Read the story of Pentecost in Acts 2:1–31. You can read it out of your Bible or if you prefer to connect it with an illustration, our favorite child’s Bible is Children’s Bible Reader and the story is on page 268-269. You can use the paper puppets (above) from Orthodox Pebbles to act out the story. If you have the children’s book Heaven Meets Earth by Ancient Faith Publishing, there’s a great section on Pentecost!
Sing the Festal Hymn of the Feast:
Listen to the English Byzantine Chant version
Troparion of Pentecost, tone 8
Blessed art Thou, O Christ our God
Who hast revealed the fisherman as most wise
having sent upon them the Holy Spirit,
and through them Thou hast fished the universe
O Lover of mankind, glory to Thee.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to Major Feast Days, I always prioritize 2 things: (1) Attending the service and (2) telling my children about the feast day prior - or afterwards. Usually this is done by showing them the icon or reading the account from their Children’s Bible. If I can do those two things, I feel a great sense of success! My hope is that these feasts days imprint on their hearts during their childhood and they have a greater love for our Savior as they grow up because of them. Now, if you are able to do those two things, you’re a gold star! Bravo! If you are in a season where you want to go a little deeper and make those connections stronger, I will cheer you on and encourage you on that venture. Some seasons allow for more, especially as children grow older. But if you find yourself in a busy season with littles, rest assured, you have many many years ahead to be able to add more to your plate!