Just last week, I and mine observed the Feast of the Transfiguration, one of the Twelve Great Feasts observed by the Eastern Orthodox Church.
On the journey a strange incident occured: Aquilon, staying overnight at a Swedish inn, observed a feast celebrating a figure named Antecessor.
Although the veneration of Joseph seems to have begun in Egypt, the earliest Western devotion to him dates from the early 14th century, when the Servites, an order of mendicant friars, observed his feast on March 19, the traditional day of his death.
In 1264 he ordered the whole church to observe the feast.
Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, and other Western churches observe the feast on January 6, while some Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate Epiphany on January 19, since their Christmas Eve falls on January 6.
Orthodox Christians in Russia observe the feast of the Epiphany on Jan . 19 rather than Jan . 6 as in the West, because they follow the Julian calendar, which observes Christmas on Jan . 7
These splits can divide along sectarian lines - with Shias and Sunnis celebrating on different days - or depend on nationality and leave Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and citizens of Arab countries observing the feast separately.
Aug. 15 is the day Catholics observe the Feast of the Assumption — the church belief that Mary was assumed bodily into heaven by God "after her early life". It was declared infallible dogma by Pope Pius XII later in 1950, though he left open the matter of whether Mary ever died.
The Achards also established an annual fair to observe the feast of St. Thomas the Martyr on 7 July.
The traditional date for Epiphany is January 6 on the Gregorian calendar, but Eastern churches following the Julian calendar observe the feast on January 19, according to the Telegraph.
Some people in Ireland, particularly in the countryside, still observe the feast day by attending mass.
