The Episcopal Church’s calendar is divided into seasons that celebrate particular periods of the life of Jesus and the Church. The two main cycles of feasts and holy days are dependent on the fixed date of Christmas and on the movable date of Easter. Other holy days can be found in the Prayer Book. Principal Feasts are marked (+). Most links are to the Glossary of Liturgical Terms.

Calendar of the Church Year:

• Advent Four Sundays before Christmas
• Christmas season December 24 to January 5
• Christmas Day + December 25
• The Epiphany + January 6
• Epiphany season January 6 to Ash Wednesday
• Ash Wednesday (Fast) Forty days before Easter Sunday
• Lent Ash Wednesday to Holy Week
• Holy Week The week before Easter
• Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday
• Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in Holy Week
• Maundy Thursday
• Good Friday (Fast)
• Holy Saturday
• Easter Sunday + First Sunday after the first full moon of spring*
• Easter season Fifty days after Easter Sunday
• Ascension Day + The Thursday forty days after Easter Sunday
• Pentecost or Whitsunday + Fifty days after Easter
• The season after Pentecost or Ordinary TimePentecost to Advent
• Trinity Sunday + The Sunday after Pentecost
• All Saint’s Day + November 1 (Our parish’s name day)

*The Prayer Book contains a table for finding the date of Easter Sunday and other holy days in any given year.

Colors of the Church Year
and Seasonal Dates, 2017

The Dates below are for the Church Year 2016,  Year A  of the Revised Common Lectionary and  Year !  of the Daily Office of the Book of Common Prayer, beginning with the First Sunday of Advent, 2015.

The Dates of the Church Year, RCL  Year A , 2015-2016

 * In some churches, Pink or Rose is used the Fourth Sunday of Advent; in Catholic and Anglican traditions, Pink or Rose is also used the Fourth Sunday in Lent (Laetere Sunday).

** In some churches, Red is used only on Pentecost Sunday and the following week.

In the chart above, with the exception of Advent, more traditional colors are in the left column and alternate colors in the right column. Some Protestant church traditions use only traditional colors, including purple for Advent, while others are more free to use alternate colors within the basic sequence. Where two colors are given for a particular Sunday, either color is appropriate.  For example, for Advent either Dark Blue or Bright Blue can be used if using Blue (many Protestants), or either Purple or Blue Violet are appropriate if using Purple (Catholic traditions). The exceptions are Holy Days in which White and Gold (or White and Yellow) are usually used together, with White being the primary color. For more detailed information on each Season of the Church Year, visit the page for that Season (The Church Year).

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 (Roman 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 Ordinary Time, nor during the Holy Days of Advent-Christmas-Epiphany both because the focus is not yet on the cross, and because the Greens of Advent and the other symbols of the Christmas season carry the visual message of that season.

Click below for information about the various Seasons and Holy Days that comprise The Christian Church Year. Except as noted, the dates are for 2016-2017,  Year A, of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year 1  of the the Daily Office (daily readings) of the Book of Common Prayer. (For a more complete calendar, see The Church Year, 2017)

Advent Year A  (November 27 - December 18, 2016)
Christmas (December 25, 2016 - January 5, 2017)
The Twelve Days of Christmas (December 25, 2015 - January 5, 2017)
Epiphany (and Ordinary Time until Lent) (January 6 - March 4, 2017)
Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras (February 28, 2017)
Ash Wednesday (March 1, 2017)
Lent (March 5 - April 15, 2017)
Holy Week (April 9 - 14 [15], 2017)
Maundy Thursday (April 13, 2017)
Good Friday (April 14, 2017)
Easter (April 16, 2017)
Pentecost (June 4, 2017)
Ordinary Time (June 7 - Dec 2, 2017)

Advent [Year B] (December 3 - 24, 2017)

Dates of the Church Year, RCL Year A, 2017 (2016-2017)
Dates of the Church Year, RCL Year C, 2016 (2015-2016)
Dates of the Church Year, RCL Year B, 2015 (2014-2015)

Colors of the Church Year
and Seasonal Dates, 2016

The Dates below are for the Church Year 2016,  Year C  of the Revised Common Lectionary 

and  Year 2  of the Daily Office of the Book of Common Prayer, beginning with the First Sunday of Advent, 2015.

The Dates of the Church Year, RCL  Year C , 2015-2016

 * In some churches, Pink or Rose is used the Fourth Sunday of Advent; in Catholic and Anglican traditions, Pink or Rose is also used the Fourth Sunday in Lent.

** In some churches, Red is used only on Pentecost Sunday and the following week.

In the chart above, with the exception of Advent, more traditional colors are in the left column and alternate colors in the right column. Some Protestant church traditions use only traditional colors, including purple for Advent, while others are more free to use alternate colors within the basic sequence. Where two colors are given for a particular Sunday, either color is appropriate.  For example, for Advent either Dark Blue or Bright Blue can be used if using Blue (many Protestants), or either Purple or Blue Violet are appropriate if using Purple (Catholic traditions). The exceptions are Holy Days in which White and Gold (or White and Yellow) are usually used together, with White being the primary color. For more detailed information on each Season of the Church Year, visit the page for that Season (The Church Year).

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 (Roman 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 Ordinary Time, nor during the Holy Days of Advent-Christmas-Epiphany both because the focus is not yet on the cross, and because the Greens of Advent and the other symbols of the Christmas season carry the visual message of that season.

Click below for information about the various Seasons and Holy Days that comprise The Christian Church Year. Except as noted, the dates are for 2015-2016,  Year C , of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year 2  of the the Daily Office (daily readings) of the Book of Common Prayer. (For a more complete calendar, see The Church Year, 2016)