An illuminated wheel of the church year — the seasons set in their colours, today marked where the church stands. From Advent to Ordinary Time, one procession.
This day: The Season after Pentecost — the vestments are green.
Hover or tap a season to read its meaning. The gold mark shows where the church stands today.
The Eight Seasons
VIOLET · THE COLOUR OF WAITING
Advent is the Church’s season of watchful preparation for the coming of Christ. The light grows as the night deepens. Four candles, one for each Sunday, and the violet cloth laid over the altar — the church learns to wait again, as it has waited every year since the beginning.
WHITE & GOLD · THE COLOUR OF REJOICING
Christmastide keeps the twelve-day celebration of the Nativity from Christmas Day through January 5. The altar wears white and gold, the colour of light that has come into the world and cannot be put out. The church keeps a feast, not a day.
GREEN & A SINGLE STAR
The Season after the Epiphany follows the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles and grows toward Lent. One clear point of light hangs above the altar — the star the wise men followed. The green of growth returns, and the church begins its long turning toward the cross.
VIOLET & LENTEN ARRAY · STILLNESS
Lent is the forty-day season of penitence and preparation for the Paschal feast. Restraint as design: the cloth goes bare and unbleached, the candles burn lower. The church learns silence. Stillness is not emptiness — it is the posture of a soul that has stopped running.
PASSION RED · THE COLOUR OF THE CROSS
Holy Week follows Christ from the palms through the Cross and the silence of the tomb. The deep red of passion cloth, the light lower. The church walks the way of the Cross — not in haste, but in the measured pace of a procession that knows where it is going and what it will cost.
WHITE & GOLD · LIGHT THAT HAS WON
Eastertide is the fifty-day celebration of the Resurrection leading to Pentecost. The church vests in white and gold, the colour of rejoicing, and the candlelight that had burned low blazes up again. Fifty days of Alleluia, the garden in bloom.
RED · THE FIRE OF THE SPIRIT
Pentecost celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Church’s mission. Red, the colour of the Spirit’s fire and the blood of martyrs. The church is born in flame and sent out. The procession reaches the altar and turns to face the world.
GREEN · THE LONG ORDINARY GROWTH
The Season after Pentecost is ordinary time for sustained growth in the life and teaching of Christ. The green of ordinary faithfulness, the longest season of the year, where the soul puts down roots. The church learns to grow in the light it has been given.