The church year

We have many different years in the calendar. The school year from September 1st to August 31st, the calendar year from January 1st to December 31st and the financial year from April 1st to March 31st to name but a few. The church also has an annual cycle from Advent Sunday to the last Sunday after Pentecost (see diagram below). Most, but not all, of the churches important days are Sunday (CFM section on Festivals - Sunday). The church's year is built around the two important festivals which celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ (Christmas) and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Easter).

Note: As Easter is festival based on Pesach or Passover it is a moon based festival and thus the date of Easter is not fixed in the calendar year. The dates of Easter can be found at the following link. So, on the chart below the dates for Easter and the dates associated with this (Ash Wednesday, Lent and Pentecost) are aggregated.

In some denominations there are associated colours with the festivals and the seasons. This is true for the Catholic and Anglican traditions and some others:

	Festival	Reason	Liturgical Colour
1	Advent	Preparation for the birth of Jesus	Purple
2	Christmas	The birth of Jesus	Gold
3	Epiphany	The arrival of the magi (wise men)	White
4	Ash Wednesday	The beginning of Lent	Purple
5	Lent	Preparation for Easter	Purple
6	Holy Week	Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, death (crucifixion) and resurrection
	Palm Sunday	Jesus arrives in Jerusalem	Purple
	Maundy Thursday	The last supper and the washing of the disciples feet	Purple
	Good Friday	The crucifixion	Black
7	Easter	The resurrection of Jesus	Gold
8	Ascension	Jesus returns to his father in heaven	White
9	Pentecost	The Holy Spirit comes to the disciples	Red
10	Harvest	Thanksgiving for all creation	Green
	Note: The colour from Pentecost to Advent is -		Green