Maundy Thursday UK, civil servants were traditionally granted a half-day holiday (known as "privilege leave") on this date, but that was abolished after 2012. The tradition of visiting seven churches on Holy Thursday is an ancient practice, probably originating in Rome. and occurs among the faithful in countries around the world. In India, the custom is to visit fourteen churches, one per Station of the Cross. Traditionally, this is performed on Maundy Thursday evening but is more often done on the morning of Good Friday or on any day of Lent. Usually, whole families would participate, customarily fasting for the duration of
Feast of the Ascension term "Holy Thursday" to mean Ascension Day is rare, and the term is more generally applied by most Christian denominations to Maundy Thursday in Holy Week. In Western Christianity, the earliest possible date is April 30 (as in 1818 and 2285), the latest possible date is June 3 (as in 1943 and 2038). In Roman Catholicism, the Ascension of the Lord is a Holy Day of Obligation and in the Anglican Communion, Holy Thursday is a Principal Feast. The three days before Ascension Thursday are sometimes referred to as the Rogation days, and the previous Sunday — the Sixth Sunday