Whit Sunday
Preserved but no longer current.
White Sunday. The seventh Sunday after Easter, to commemorate the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, In the primitive Church the newly baptized wore white from Easter to Pentecost, and were called albati (white-robed). The last of the Sundays, which was also the chief festival, was called emphatically Dominica in Albis (Sunday in White).
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Whit Sunday” mean?
White Sunday. The seventh Sunday after Easter, to commemorate the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, In the primitive Church the newly baptized wore white from Easter to Pentecost, and were called albati (white-robed). The last of the Sundays, which was also the chief festival, was called emphatically Dominica in Albis (Sunday in White).
Is “Whit Sunday” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.