Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ among Catholics (Corpus Christi)

Catholics around the world celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ annually on Thursday, the eleventh day after the Feast of Pentecost. This holiday is also called Corpus Christi, which is translated from Latin as the Body of Christ. Corpus Christi was officially founded to commemorate the institution of the sacrament of communion, or Eucharist, by Jesus Christ. The holiday originated in the 13th century, was originally local, and was celebrated in the Belgian city of Liege. And in 1264, Pope Urban IV made it common to the church. He granted indulgence, or forgiveness of sins, to everyone who participated in the festive mass. Bread, called a wafer among Catholics, and wine symbolize the sacrifice made by Christ for the salvation of people, and believers, by receiving Holy Communion, participate in the sacrifice of Christ. The wafers, which are small unleavened wheat cakes, have on one side the obligatory image of a cross and the Latin letters J. N. K. I., which translated from English means Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Liturgies are celebrated not only in churches, but with a large number of believers, and in squares. The holiday includes the obligatory majestic procession with the Holy Gifts through the streets and around the temple. At the head of the procession are the priests carrying the Monstrance, which is a type of monstrance, followed by the parishioners. A monstrance is a ritual object in the shape of a sun with diverging rays and a cross at the top, in the central part of which the Holy Gifts are placed. With Monstrance, the Priest blesses the faithful and the altars installed on the street in all four directions of the world. And the liturgy ends with crowded pompous processions with the Holy Gifts, accompanied by prayers and chants. Among the traditions, such a beautiful one has been preserved as scattering flower petals during the procession. In some countries, in order to allow as many parishioners as possible to attend the procession, it is moved from Thursday to Sunday. In some countries professing Catholicism, this day is a non-working day. People vacation in Austria, Portugal, Poland, Croatia, and partially do not work on this day in Spain, Switzerland and Germany.