Ascension Day is also known as the Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ or Holy Thursday or Ascension Thursday.  It is the 40th day of Easter. Ascension Day occurs 39 days after Jesus Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. According to Christian belief, Ascension Day commemorates Jesus Christ’s ascension into heaven.

According to belief, Ascension Day was first celebrated in 68AD but the first written evidence of the Ascension Day occurred in 385 AD.

Ascension Day is one of the universally celebrated feasts of the Christian churches. The Roman Catholic Church in a number of countries has obtained permission from the Vatican to move the Ascension Day from the traditional Thursday to the following Sunday, which is the Sunday before Pentecost. The United Methodist Church allows the traditional celebration to be moved to Sunday. The decision to move the feast from Thursday to Sunday was to encourage more Christians to observe the celebration. Nevertheless, in some places, the Thursday observance is retained.