Colors and alternate colors in the Church
The Dates of the Church Year, RCL Year A , 2013-2014
Colors | Season | Dates | Alternate | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dark Blue | Blue | Advent | December 1-Dec 14 | Blue Violet | Purple |
Pink* | 3rd Wk of Advent | Dec 15-Dec 21 | Rose* | ||
Dark Blue | Blue | Advent | Dec 23 | Blue Violet | Purple |
Dark Blue | Blue | Christmas Eve | Dec 24 | Blue Violet | Purple |
White | Gold | Christmas | Dec 25-Jan 5 | White | Yellow |
White | Gold | Epiphany | Jan 6-11 | White | Yellow |
Green | After Epiphany | Jan 12-Mar1 | Lt. Green | ||
White | Gold | Transfiguration | Mar 2-4 | White | Yellow |
Purple | Ash Wednesday | Mar 5 | Gray | ||
Purple* | Ash Wed/Lent | Mar 5-Apr 12 | Red Violet* | ||
Purple | Palm Sunday | Apr 13-16 | Red** | ||
Purple | Maundy Thursday | Apr 17 | Red** | ||
Purple | Black | Good Friday | Apr 18 | //// No Colors //// | |
Black | Holy Saturday | Apr 19 | //// No Colors //// | ||
White | Gold | Easter | Apr 20-Apr 26 | White | Yellow |
White | Gold | Eastertide | Apr 27-May 28 | Red** | |
White | Gold | Ascension Day | May 29 [Sunday Jun 1] | White | Yellow |
White | Gold | Eastertide | May 30 [June 2]-Jun 7 | Red* | |
Red | Pentecost Sunday | Jun 8-14 | Red | Gold | |
White | Gold | Trinity Sunday | Jun 15-June 21 | Red** | |
Green | Ordinary Time | June 22-Oct 31 | Lt. Green | Bronze | |
Aqua | Olive | ||||
Red** | All Saints Day or Sunday | Nov 1 [or the next Sunday, Nov 2] | White | Gold | |
Green | Ordinary Time | Nov 2 [3]-22 | Lt. Green | Bronze | |
Aqua | Olive | ||||
White | Gold | Christ the King | Nov 23-29 | White | Yellow |
* 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 Third Sunday in Lent.
** 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 (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.
Information courtesty of: