The Liturgical Calendar

It is easy to think of colours which are symbols in everyday life eg traffic lights and red carpets. The church also makes use of symbolic liturgical colours throughout the year. The Eucharistic vestments which are worn in different colours according to the season are the chasuble, the stole and the maniple. The colours of the Altar Frontal (altar cloth) and Pulpit Fall also change during the year, and you may even find the symbolic colours echoed in such things as the flower arrangements used-in church.

In brief, the main liturgical colours are as follows:

Purple or violet - Purple is seen as a sorrowful colour which is used at the penitential periods of Advent and Lent. At these times people are preparing for the joyful festivals and Christmas and Easter and this should be done through self-examination and thinking on the Last Things (Advent) or the sufferings and temptation ofChrist (Lent). Thus Advent points the way towards Christ's return in glory and is less austere than Lent which was originally a time when many Christians fasted voluntarily on certain days. Lent was also the time in the early church when converts undertook a rigorous time of preparation before baptism, or penitents hoped to be forgiven and taken back into the church community.

White or gold White – White is the colour of innocence, purity and light. It is a sign of great celebration and thus is used at Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension and on Trinity Sunday. Christmas puts emphasis on the human birth of Christ and his appearance to the "poor'', Epiphany reveals Him as Son of God to all nations (the Magi). Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, followed by His Ascension.

Red is the colour of fire and blood, so it is used at Pentecost (when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples of Jesus like tongues of fire) and also on all Saints Days because many of the early saints shed their blood as martyrs for the faith.

Green is a symbol of new life and growth so you can expect to see it being used at those times of the year when the emphasis is not upon any particular festival, but upon sustained periods of teaching and spiritual growth. Green will be used from the first Sunday after Epiphany until Lent begins and again from Trinity Sunday until Advent begins.

The liturgical year is a great cycle of remembering, but it is not only the past event which is being celebrated. Every festival affects the way a Christian  views the present and their eternal hopes for the future.