Holy Monday Tradition

History

Holy Week cleaning is a most appropriate way to spend the week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, getting the house ready for the Easter feasts and joy that will soon come. The week of attentively washing, scrubbing, sweeping, mopping, dusting, and airing out is actually where the notion of “spring cleaning” comes from and has been a tradition that Christians have engaged in since the first centuries of Christendom when the idea of a formal period of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter solidified.

Of course, the activity is two-fold, as with the cleaning of one’s house also comes the decluttering of the mind. It manifests the idea that the time and energy we spend tidying up our living space should similarly mimic the work that we pray the Holy Spirit does in us during the most penitential season of the year. Additionally, it keeps our minds and hands busy as we wait for the feast of our Lord’s resurrection and meditate on his great work that he did for us during the Triduum and the days leading up to it.

It is for this reason that we are putting together a mini three-part cleaning series to help commemorate the days of Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, and Holy (Spy) Wednesday, which fall at the beginning of Holy Week. While spring cleaning is always a big task and could easily take you the entire Holy Week to complete, we also like the idea of spending the first couple days of the week very concentrated on getting your “to-do” list done; that way you can better make space and time for the emotional work needed to get through Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

We’ve put together three easy, DIY recipes that you can easily use to freshen up your house and to help teach those in your household about where spring cleaning comes from. Of course, these are not the only ways to celebrate Holy Week and only represent a few of our ideas of ways that you can better ready your houses, minds, and bodies for the difficulty of remembering Christ’s death. Besides just cleaning, we also encourage you to check out our various fasting posts that suggest simple recipes to make while traveling through these seven days. Finally, consider increasing your prayer and almsgiving during this time, too, something that can be done in conjunction with the money reserved through the action of fasting and the space created for mental reflection through the action of mindless cleaning.

Rosemary & Citrus Peel Cleaner

This cleaner is simple to make and easy to use, a great addition to your Holy Monday cleaning lineup. Vinegar is a wonderful household staple, great at deodorizing and freshening. However, the smell can be off-putting to some people—many find that fragrant additions to an easy vinegar cleaning solution can help it be more readily used. Use a vinegar cleaning agent at your own discretion, and double check whether it can be used on a given surface as it may damage some materials such as marble.

To create the solution, all you have to do is pack jars full of citrus peels and fresh rosemary (or other herbs), top with vinegar until full, and let sit for a couple of weeks to infuse. You can let it steep in a sunny window or store under your sink while you’re waiting for it to prepare. If you’re reading this post ahead of Holy Week, this is a great reminder to take a few minutes to get your bottles ready in anticipation for the busyness that ensues during Holy Week.

After sitting for a couple of weeks, the solution is ready to strain and use in your favorite spray bottle. Not only is this recipe a great DIY and non-toxic, but we also love tying extra bottles of the solution up with cute ribbon to give as housewarming or hostess gifts, especially in the spring!