THE CHURCH YEAR

Seasons of the Church Year, their themes, and the colors used for vestments and church hangings:

Advent: a season of penitence and expectation. Purple or Blue

Christmas: a season of joy in Our Lord's birth. White

Epiphany: a season of proclamation, growth, and mission. Green

Lent: a season of fasting and repentance. Purple or sackcloth brown.

Holy Week: a week of remembrance of Our Lord's passion and of preparation for his Resurrection. Red

Good Friday: a day of deep fasting in memory of Our Lord's death on the Cross. Black

Easter: a season of joy in the Resurrection. White

Pentecost: a season of growth and mission. Green

The Calendar of the Church Year is in The on pages 15-33,

Fixed and Movable Feasts "The Church Year consists of two cycles of feasts and holy days: one is dependent upon the movable date of the Sunday of the Resurrection or Day; the other, upon the fixed date of December 25, the Feast of Our Lord's Nativity, or Chrisffilas Day." (BCP, page 15)

Advent is the start ofthe Church and always begins four (4) Sundays before Christnas Day. The Christnas season begins with the Feast ofthe Nativity of Our Lord, December 25, and is twelve (12) days long. The Feast ofthe begins the season ofEpiphany and is always January 6.

Easter Sunday is always the frst Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, the date changing from year to year, but always between March 22 and April 25. The season ofLent begins fotty (40) days before Easter Sunday, which is always a Wednesday, calledAsh Wednesday. The season of begins with the Feast of Pentecost, fifty (50) days after Easter, which is always a Thursday. The seasons of Epiphany and Pentecost the only ones that are of variable length because they lie between the of the Church Year based on Day and the variable part of the Church Year based on Easter Sunday.

Principal Feast take precedence over any other observance on that day. The Principal Feasts observed are: Easter Day, Ascension Day, the Day of Pentecost, , All Saints' Day, Christmas Day, and the Day of the Epiphany.

Red Letter days: Major Feasts of Our Lord, Apostles, Evangelists, and certain other feast days and national holidays celebrated, and the color for these is red regardless of the color of the season in which they occur.