EPISCOPAL CHURCH SEASONS
The Church Year is ordered by six seasons that each celebrate a part of Christian faith and life. The Episcopal Church Seasons are determined by the dates of Easter Sunday and Christmas Day. They are Advent season, Christmas season, Epiphany season, Lenten season, Holy Week, Easter season, the season after Pentecost (Ordinary Time). You can most easily tell what season we are in by the color of the clergy's vestments and the altar cloth hangings, although some seasons are represented by the same color . The colors are white, red, purple, and green.
We Are Currently Celebrating
EASTER
The feast of Christ's resurrection. According to Bede, the word derives from the Anglo-Saxon spring goddess Eostre. Christians in England applied the word to the principal festival of the church year, both day and season. Easter Day is the annual feast of the resurrection, the pascha or Christian Passover, and the eighth day of cosmic creation. Faith in Jesus' resurrection on the Sunday or third day following his crucifixion is at the heart of Christian belief. Easter sets the experience of springtime next to the ancient stories of deliverance and the proclamation of the risen Christ. In the west, Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the full moon on or after the vernal equinox. Easter always falls between Mar. 22 and Apr. 25 inclusive. Following Jewish custom, the feast begins at sunset on Easter Eve with the Great Vigil of Easter. The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates Easter on the first Sunday after the Jewish pesach or Passover (which follows the spring full moon). Although the two dates sometimes coincide, the eastern date is often one or more weeks later.