Why and When We Change Vestment Colors
Many Christian churches use vestments of different colors on the pulpit and bible stand
during each liturgical season so that they are consistent with the spirit of that season
in the Christian calendar.
There are four liturgical seasons and seven changes of vestments during the year.
#1. Advent, the first holy season of the liturgical year, is the four weeks
(and thus the four Sundays) before Christmas.
 Purple vestments
are used to indicate penance as we anticipate not only Christ's birth and incarnation, but also His return.
| If Dec 25th is on | then first Advent Sun is |
|---|
| Mon | Dec 3 |
| Tue | Dec 2 |
| Wed | Dec 1 |
| Thu | Nov 30 |
| Fri | Nov 29 |
| Sat | Nov 28 |
| Sun | Nov 27 |
#2. Christmas, the second holy season, begins on Christmas Eve
(the start of Christmas Day) and ends twelve days later on January 6 (Epiphany).
Christmas Day is the festival of the birth of Christ,
and we celebrate God's coming among us as a human being.
White vestments are used to indicate divinity, purity, and victory.
By the year 1000 AD most Christians were holding this festival on December 25.
The calendar date for Christmas does not change from year to year, but
-- since the number of days in a year is not evenly dividible by seven (the number
of days in a week) -- Christmas comes on different days of the week in different years.
Note: AD stands for the Latin phrase, Anno Domini,
which means the Year of our Lord, counted from the year of Christ's death and resurrection.
Because the Christian base date for counting years has come into almost universal use
and because governments, businesses, and historians now want to avoid using religious
connotations when writing dates the letters CE are now use instead of AD. CE stands for "Common Era".
#3. Ordinary Time I is the period between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday
(the beginning of Lent)
 Green vestments
are used to indicate hope and the growth of the Church.
#4. Lent, the third holy season, starts on Ash Wednesday, forty-six days
before Easter Sunday (considered to be forty days when you exclude the holy days of Sunday).
During this perion which we remember and contemplate the atoning death of Jesus.
Ash Wednesday comes the day after Shrove Tuesday, also known as Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday),
the last day of the secular carnival season.
Purple vestments are used during Lent (except for Holy Week)
to indicate penance as we anticipate Christ's crucifixion
Note: The Nicene Council of 325 AD decreed that Easter should be the first Sunday
after the first full moon on or after March 21.
Thus it can never earlier than March 22 nor later than April 25.
Since the dates for Ash Wednesday and Pentecost are determined
by the date for Easter Sunday, the calendar dates these three dates vary
from year to year, but each falls on the same day of the week each year.
| Easter Sun | Ash Wed | Pentecost |
|---|
| March 22 | Feb 4* | May 10 |
| March 23 | Feb 5* | May 11 |
| March 24 | Feb 6* | May 12 |
| March 25 | Feb 7* | May 13 |
| March 26 | Feb 8* | May 14 |
| March 27 | Feb 9* | May 15 |
| March 28 | Feb 10* | May 16 |
| March 29 | Feb 11* | May 17 |
| March 30 | Feb 12* | May 18 |
| March 31 | Feb 13* | May 19 |
| Apr 1 | Feb 14* | May 20 |
| Apr 2 | Feb 15* | May 21 |
| Apr 3 | Feb 16* | May 22 |
| Apr 4 | Feb 17* | May 23 |
| Apr 5 | Feb 18* | May 24 |
| Apr 6 | Feb 19* | May 25 |
| Apr 7 | Feb 20* | May 26 |
| Apr 8 | Feb 21* | May 27 |
| Apr 9 | Feb 22* | May 28 |
| Apr 10 | Feb 23* | May 29 |
| Apr 11 | Feb 24* | May 30 |
| Apr 12 | Feb 25* | May 31 |
| Apr 13 | Feb 26* | June 1 |
| Apr 14 | Feb 27* | June 2 |
| Apr 15 | Feb 28* | June 3 |
| Apr 16 | Mar 1 | June 4 |
| Apr 17 | Mar 2 | June 5 |
| Apr 18 | Mar 3 | June 6 |
| Apr 19 | Mar 4 | June 7 |
| Apr 20 | Mar 5 | June 8 |
| Apr 21 | Mar 6 | June 9 |
| Apr 22 | Mar 7 | June 10 |
| Apr 23 | Mar 8 | June 11 |
| Apr 24 | Mar 9 | June 12 |
| Apr 25 | Mar 10 | June 13 |
* = in a leap year (having a Feb 29) add 1 to these dates because
in a leap year the date of Easter is one day farther from all days before
March 1, so counting 46 days back from March 22 gives us Feb 5
rather than Feb 4, etc.
#5. Holy Week is the week from Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter Sunday)
to the day before Easter Sunday.
During this week Jesus made a triumphal entrance into Jerusalem (on Palm Sunday),
took his last meal with his disciples (on Maundy Thursday), and was crucified (on Good Friday).
Red vestments are used during Holy Week to indicate the blood shed for their faith by all the saints.
#6. Easter, the fourth holy season, is the seven weeks (49 days)
starting on Easter Sunday and ending the day before Pentecost Sunday.
During Easter we celebrate Christ's resurrection from death,
with the hope of the new life that we have now that God has defeated the power of sin and death.
White vestments are used to indicate divinity, purity, and victory.
#7. Pentecost Sunday, the fiftieth day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday,
celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles following the death and resurrection of Christ.
Red vestments are used to indicate the birth of the church.
Note: Since about 200 AD most Christians have celebrated Pentecost on the seventh Sunday after Easter.
The name comes from the Greek word for fifty, since Pentecost is also a Jewish celebration
of the first fruits of the harvest on the fiftieth day after Passover.
In some churches Pentecost day is called Whitsunday (white Sunday)
because newly baptized members wear white robes to mark the end of the Easter season.
#8. Ordinary Time II is the period between Easter season and Advent season.
Green vestments are used to indicate hope and the growth of the Church.
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