|
|
|
|
|
|
Click here to |
Colors of the Church Year
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Colors |
Season |
Dates |
Alternate |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Dark Blue |
Advent |
Nov 30-Dec 13 |
Purple |
Blue |
|
|
Pink* |
3rd Wk of Advent |
Dec 14-Dec 20 |
Rose |
||
|
Dark Blue |
Advent |
Dec 21-Dec 23 |
Purple |
Blue |
|
|
Dark Blue |
Christmas Eve |
Dec 24 |
Purple |
Blue |
|
|
White |
Gold |
Christmas |
Dec 25-Jan 5 |
White |
Yellow |
|
White |
Gold |
Epiphany |
Jan 6 |
White |
Yellow |
|
Green |
After Epiphany |
Jan 7-Feb 21 |
Lt. Green |
||
|
White |
Gold |
Transfiguration |
Feb 22-24 |
White |
Yellow |
|
Purple |
Ash Wednesday |
Feb 25 |
Gray |
||
|
Purple |
Ash Wed/Lent |
Feb 25-Apr 8 |
Violet |
||
|
Purple |
Maundy Thursday |
Apr 9 |
Red** |
||
|
Purple |
Black |
Good Friday |
Apr 10 |
Black |
|
|
Black |
Holy Saturday |
Apr 11 |
No Colors |
||
|
White |
Gold |
Easter |
Apr 12-18 |
White |
Yellow |
|
White |
Gold |
Eastertide |
Apr 19-May 20 |
Red** |
|
|
White |
Gold |
Ascension Day |
May 21 |
White |
Yellow |
|
White |
Gold |
Eastertide |
May 22-May 30 |
Red* |
|
|
Red |
Pentecost Sunday |
May 31-June 6 |
Red |
Gold |
|
|
White |
Gold |
Trinity Sunday |
June 7-13 |
Red** |
|
|
Green |
Ordinary Time |
June 14-Oct 31 |
Lt. Green |
Bronze |
|
|
|
|
Aqua |
Olive |
||
|
Red** |
All Saints Day or Sunday |
Nov 1 or the next Sunday |
White |
Gold |
|
|
Green |
Ordinary Time |
Nov 2-21 |
Lt. Green |
Bronze |
|
|
|
|
Aqua |
Olive |
||
|
White |
Gold |
Christ the King |
Nov 22-28 |
White |
Yellow |
* In some churches, Pink is used the Fourth Sunday of Advent
** In some churches, Red is used only on Pentecost Sunday and the following week.
Metallic Silver is sometimes used for or with white, especially at Easter and Christmas. Likewise Metallic Gold can be used for gold or yellow. While some traditions (Catholic, for example) still use for purple for Advent, there is a trend to use a bluish violet for Advent and deep red violet for Lent.
In most traditions, the sanctuary cross is draped in color only during Lent (purple), Good Friday (black), and Easter (white). Some churches leave white on the cross through Eastertide, drape the cross in red for Pentecost Sunday, and then leave the cross undraped until the beginning of Lent the next year. Usually the cross is not decorated during Advent, Christmas, or Epiphany both because the focus is not yet on the cross, and since the Greens of Advent and the other symbols of the Christmas season carry the visual message.
Click below for information about the various Seasons and Holy Days that comprise The Christian Church Year. Except as noted, the dates are for 2008-2009, Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year 1 of the Daily Office (daily readings) of the Book of Common Prayer.
Advent Year B, 2008-2009; Nov 30 - Dec 24, 2008)
Advent Season (Nov 30 - Dec 24, 2008)
Christmas (Dec 25, 2008 - Jan 5, 2009)
The Twelve Days of Christmas (Dec 25, 2008 - Jan 5, 2009)
Epiphany (and Ordinary Time until Lent) (Jan 6 - Feb 24, 2009)
Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras (Feb 24, 2009)
Ash Wednesday (Feb 25, 2009)
Lent (Mar 1 - April 11, 2009)
Holy Week (April 5-11 (12), 2009)
Maundy Thursday (April 9, 2009)
Good Friday (April 10, 2009)
Easter (April 12, 2009)
Pentecost (May 31, 2009)
Ordinary Time (June 1-Nov 28, 2009
Advent [Year C] (Nov 29 - Dec 24, 2009)
Dates of the Church Year, RCL Year A, 2008 (2007-2008)
Dates of the Church Year, RCL Year B, 2009 (2008-2009)
Dates of the Church Year, RCL Year C, 2010 (2009-2010)
Related pages
