Leavetaking of Pascha
What is “leavetaking”? For most major feasts, we continue celebrating beyond just one day. For Pascha, we celebrate Christ’s Resurrection for 40 day, and it concludes on the Holy Feast of Ascension. During those days, we sing “Christ is Risen” and the hymns in the services are still the beautiful and joyful Paschal hymns! The “leavetaking” is the 39th day (aka today)! Think of it as the last day of the feast! After today, the paschal hymns are no longer sung- until next year!
Instead of saying “Christ is Risen,” we now say “He is Ascended!”
In light of the leave taking, I will be putting away our paschal decorations. I finally feel ready for this new chapter in our Liturgical cycle!