The Christian liturgical year — also called the church year or kalendar — organizes worship, scripture, and observance into seasons that begin not in January but on the First Sunday of Advent, typically in late November or early December. This page is a reference for clergy, church staff, religious educators, and devout laity planning around the 2026-2027 liturgical year.
For full liturgical-year details — saint days, daily lectionary readings, seasonal proper prayers — denominational sources are authoritative: the USCCB for Catholic; the Common Worship calendar for Anglican; the ELCA / LCMS calendars for Lutheran. This page covers the major structural seasons that all Western traditions share.
The seasons of the Western liturgical year
Advent
Purple
4 Sundays before Christmas. Preparation for Christ's coming. Begins late Nov / early Dec.
Christmas
White / Gold
12-day season starting December 25. Celebration of the Incarnation. Through January 5.
Epiphany
White → Green
Begins January 6 (Three Kings). Manifestation of Christ to the world. Ends Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.
Lent
Purple
40 days (excluding Sundays) of penitence and preparation. Begins Ash Wednesday, ends Holy Saturday.
Holy Week
Red → White
Palm Sunday through Holy Saturday. The most solemn week of the year — Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil.
Easter
White / Gold
50-day season from Easter Sunday through Pentecost. The high feast of the Christian year. Movable date — first Sunday after first full moon after spring equinox.
Pentecost
Red
50th day after Easter. Birth of the Church, descent of the Holy Spirit. Single-day high feast.
Ordinary Time
Green
Two stretches — short one between Epiphany and Lent, long one from Pentecost to Advent. The 'green' season of growth, by far the longest portion of the year.
Eastern Orthodox traditions follow a related but distinct liturgical calendar — Julian-calendar fixed dates (so Christmas falls on January 7 Gregorian), separate Easter calculation (Pascha), and a longer Lenten season called Great Lent.
Track the church year
Yearly Event Calendar
12 fillable monthly pages — write Advent / Lent / Easter / Pentecost dates onto the printable.
Open →
Christmas countdown
Advent Calendar
Printable 24-day Advent countdown — pair with the liturgical year reference for the season of preparation.
Open →
Jewish year
Jewish Holiday Calendar
Reference for the Hebrew calendar and major Jewish holidays — companion piece to this Christian reference.
Open →
Frequently asked questions
What is the liturgical year?
The liturgical year (also called the church year or kalendar) is the Christian calendar of seasons and feast days that organizes worship, scripture readings, and church observance. Unlike the secular calendar (which begins in January), the liturgical year begins on the First Sunday of Advent — typically in late November or early December. It then cycles through Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and Ordinary Time before starting again the next Advent.
Which churches use the liturgical calendar?
Most prominently Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican / Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, and Moravian churches. Many Reformed (Presbyterian) and Congregational churches use a partial version — observing Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter but treating most of the year as undifferentiated. Pentecostal, Baptist, and most non-denominational churches typically don't follow the full liturgical year.
What do the liturgical colors mean?
Each season has an associated color used for vestments, altar cloths, and decoration. Purple (or violet) for Advent and Lent — penitence, preparation. White (or gold) for Christmas, Easter, and major feasts — joy, purity. Green for Ordinary Time — growth, life. Red for Pentecost, Palm Sunday, and martyrs' feast days — fire of the Spirit, blood of witness. Black is occasionally used for Good Friday or All Souls' Day.
Why are some dates 'movable' — like Easter?
Easter is calculated as the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox — a formula adopted at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. That makes Easter fall anywhere from March 22 to April 25 depending on the lunar cycle. Because so much of the liturgical calendar is anchored to Easter (Lent starts 46 days before, Pentecost 50 days after, etc.), all those dates move with it year-to-year.
What's the difference between Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant liturgical calendars?
Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and most Western Protestant traditions follow the same Western (Gregorian) liturgical calendar with minor variations in saints' feast days. Eastern Orthodox churches typically follow the Julian calendar for fixed dates (Christmas falls on January 7 in the Gregorian, not December 25) and use a different Easter calculation that often falls 1-5 weeks later than the Western date. Many Orthodox churches have moved to the Revised Julian calendar for fixed dates while keeping the Julian Easter calculation.
Why don't you auto-mark these on the printable calendars?
Apollo's Templates currently marks US federal holidays plus Easter, Christmas, and Good Friday on every calendar — that covers the Christian fixed and major movable feasts. Full liturgical-year details (every saint's day, every season transition, the readings cycle) require a much more specialized calendar — better served by tools like the USCCB calendar (Catholic), the Episcopal Common Worship calendar (Anglican), or Universalis (Catholic Office of Readings).
Updated through May 2026