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Today, Thursday May 30th, the Dominican Republic celebrates “Corpus Christi” Day, a feast day based on Catholic traditions and religious beliefs – also shared among many European and Latin countries. On this day many attend church to commemorate Jesus’ last supper as a way of showing love and gratitude; a principal Christian ritual.
Today (Thursday May 30th) the St. Stanislaus Church in Altos de Chavón will offer a Mass at 6pm to mark the celebration.
For years, the Dominican Republic has celebrated Corpus Christi as a “día feriado” meaning a day off work – but why and what are we celebrating?
The latin words “Corpus Christi” literally mean Christ’s Body and the Catholic celebration of ”Corpus Christi” is basically a larger than normal “Eucharist” or Holy Communion. Although this ritual is normally held on regular catholic masses every day, it is on Corpus Christi when hundreds of thousands of people attend church for a major Eucharist celebration to honor Jesus, manifesting their devotion, love and gratitude for him dying to save humanity.
Corpus Christi is not always celebrated on the 30th May, it is a moveable holiday, which is always celebrated on the Thursday that follows the 8th Sunday after the ‘Sunday of Resurrection’, in other words, 60 days after this event.
Source: wikipedia.org
To see the complete calendar of Dominican National Holidays click here!