Liturgical Colours
 

Different colours are used to differentiate liturgical seasons.
 


White or Gold:

These are the festival colours and denote happy times.

They are used at Christmas and Easter, on many of the greatest saints' days (except when red is considered more suitable) and on all occasions of great significance to individual Christian people such as Baptism, Confirmation, Weddings or Ordination.

Red is used in three main ways:

 First, to denote a saint who has died for the faith (the colour of blood spilt in the name of Christ).

Second, red is associated with the Holy Spirit (i.e. Whitsun).

Third, red is used in association with the spilling of Jesus' own blood for us and is often now the colour used on Good Friday.

Purple & Black:

Purple is used as a sombre colour at times of reflection and preparation for great festivals. Advent (before Christmas) and Lent (before Easter) are two such times.
Purple is also the colour associated most with funerals and prayer for the departed.  It is often used in preference to black, although  black vestments are still used on occasions.
 

Green

It is tempting to say that green is used when no other colour is appropriate. It has a significance of its own in terms of growth, and seems eminently suitable for occasions like Harvest Thanksgiving but it is used on other occasions in the year when one of the other colours is inappropriate.

Blue
Blue has come to be associated with Mary. Whenever she is depicted in stained glass, in statues or paintings, she usually manages to be shown in a blue dress.  

 

 

 

 

 

 


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