Introduction

The feasts of the Christians all refer more or less to the real, historical life and work of the Saviour, to His walk in the state of His humiliation for our salvation, to His words and His miracles. Our Christian faith in particular is not based on a system devised by reason, but on all the facts of salvation, as set forth in the second and third articles of the Apostolic Symbol.
Luther gives the following reasons why we Christians celebrate festivals: The most prominent reason is that the ministry of preaching may remain in its pregnancy and that the people may have their certain, appointed time when they may come together, hear God's word, and know God from it. Again, that they may need the sacrament, pray in general for all the needs of all Christendom, and give thanks to our dear Lord God for all his benefits, both bodily and spiritual.
The Christian festival year is divided into three circles, namely: 1. the Christmas circle, 2. the Easter circle, and 3. the Pentecost circle. Each festival has a pre-celebration and a post-celebration.
1. The Christmas feast has the Advent season for the pre-celebration and the New Year's Day and the Epiphany feast for the post-celebration. This circle lasts until the Sunday Septuagesimä.
2. The Easter feast has Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. This week is called Holy Week. For the post-celebration half the Sunday Quasimodogeniti and lasts until Ascension Day.
3. The Feast of Pentecost has the feast of the Ascension as its pre-celebration and the Feast of Trinity as its post-celebration.
From the book of Acts it is clear that the apostles and the first Christians kept Easter and Pentecost with the Jews for a while. Nothing is known about other feast days and holidays, which only came up later.
There are a. movable and b. immovable festivals.
Those feasts which are celebrated in the Christian churches, and which do not always fall on one and the same day and month, namely Advent, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity, are called movable feasts.
Immovable feasts are those which fall on the same day and month each time, as: Christmas, New Year, Epiphany, Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Annunciation, Visitation, Assumption, Nativity, all the days of the Apostles, All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day, the Immaculate Conception and so on.
Most of the feasts are arranged on such days on which the Jews and partly also the Gentiles celebrated feasts, in order that the newly converted Christians might not lack feasts on such days, but partly and especially to keep them from taking part in the Jewish, and especially in the Gentile feasts.