Seasons Of The Church

[Margarite]

I was wondering if you could elaborate alittle on the Seasons of the Church, How many, what they are and so on.

Also, what do the colors mean? (The colors in the altar and in the chasuble or the stole the Preist wears)

Thanks.

[cappie]

[b]The liturgical year [/b]is the cycle of seasons and feasts celebrated by the church during the course of a 12 month period. The cycle begins on the first Sunday of Advent (close to the beginning of December) and includes 5 major seasons: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time is an unusual name, but is called "Ordinary" in the sense that it is a time in which we grow in our faith, as contrasted with seasons that concentrate on the great mysteries of our faith, the birth, death and resurrestion of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Feasts are Christian celebrations held on specific days to honour the risen Jesus, Mary or one of the saints. They are grouped into three categories, by order of importance: 1)Solemenities, 2) Feasts, and 3) Memorials.

The current Calandar was approved by Pope Paul VI in 1969. Each Bishops conference may add particular saints or celebrations particular to their country, e.g. Our Lady of Guadalupe in the USA and Blessed Mary MacKillop in Australia.

The liturgical colours are 1) White, for Joy or happiness, worn at Christmas, Easter and the feasts of saints that were not martyrs. 2) Violet or purple worn during Advent and Lent, usually associated with penance. In some places blue is worn during Advent to separate it from Lent. 3) Red symbloises fire and is worn on the feast of Pentecost, it also stands for blood and so is worn on Good Friday and Palm Sunday to symbolise the blood shed by Jesus for us. It is also worn on the feasts of martyrs. 4) Green is worn during ordinary time and is a symbol of hope and growth.
In some countries Black is worn at funerals as a sign of mourning although today purple is sometimes worn, but it seems that white, the sign of resurrection is more in favour these days. Gold may be worn at Easter or Christmas as sign of special solemnity.