Christian Seasons
Many churches follow a yearly pattern that remembers the main events of Jesus’s life and the beginning of the Church.
The Christian year is not another Bible story. It is a way of returning to the Christian story each year through worship, prayer and reflection.
- Advent
- The four weeks before Christmas. Christians prepare to celebrate Jesus’s birth and look forward to his promised return.
- Christmas
- The celebration of Jesus’s birth. Christians believe that in Jesus, God came among humanity.
- Epiphany
- A season beginning in January that remembers Jesus being revealed to the wider world, especially through the visit of the wise men.
- Lent
- The forty-day period before Easter, not counting Sundays. Christians often use it for prayer, self-examination, generosity and preparing to remember Jesus’s death and resurrection.
- Holy Week
- The final week before Easter. It begins with Palm Sunday, includes Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and follows the events leading to Jesus’s crucifixion.
- Easter
- The celebration of Jesus rising from the dead. It is the central Christian festival and the source of Christian hope in forgiveness, new life and victory over death.
- Ascension
- Forty days after Easter, Christians remember Jesus returning to the Father and entrusting his followers with continuing his mission.
- Pentecost
- Fifty days after Easter, Christians remember the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus’s followers and the beginning of the Church’s worldwide mission.
- Ordinary Time
- The periods outside the main festival seasons. Churches focus on Jesus’s teaching and on growing in everyday Christian life.
- All Saints’ Day
- A day for remembering Christians across the centuries and giving thanks for lives shaped by faith.
Dates and customs can differ between Christian traditions. You may also notice different colours used in church during the year, but the exact pattern varies.