After Easter, the Solemnity of Pentecost is the most important day in the liturgical year. Even though Pentecost no longer enjoys an official octave on the modern Roman calendar, it is fitting that the Whitsun festivity be drawn out through the ensuing week, and the Summer Ember Days falling during that week have traditionally been regarded as part of the Whitsun octave. Hence they have always been observed in Pentecost red with no change of liturgical color.

• Note that Pentecost has a special Vigil Mass, Whitsun Eve, which is different from the Sunday observance.

• There is a Sequence at the Whitsunday Mass

• At the end of last Mass on Whitsunday, at the Dismissal, the Paschal Candle is formally extinguished and then afterwards carried to the Baptistery where it is lit thenceforth only for baptisms and funerals.