Liturgical Colors
The service books of Lutheran Churches designate specific colors for events which are listed on the liturgical calendars and the seasons which are a part of the Temporal Cycle. This color is sometimes known as “the color of the day.” The Lutheran Church generally follows the color scheme which is used by other churches in Western Christianity since Lutheranism has historically been linked with the Roman Catholic Church. The color of the day dictates the color of the vestments for all ministers and the color of paraments. White is the color designated for Festivals of Christ, with gold sometimes offered as an alternative for the first days of Easter. Festivals for which white is the color of the day include:
- Christmas (all twelve days)
- Epiphany
- The Baptism of our Lord (First Sunday after Epiphany)
- Transfiguration (Last Sunday after Epiphany and/or August 6)
- Easter (all days except Pentecost)
- Holy Trinity
- Christ the King
White is also used as the color for anyone commemorated on the calendar who was not martyred and is the color appointed for funerals regardless of whatever the color of the day might otherwise be. Purple is commonly used for the season of Lent. It is also optional for use during Advent, though blue is the preferred color for this season because of its hopeful connotations rather than the penitential character implied by purple and its association with Lent. Red is used for the commemorations of martyrs and is used on the Day of Pentecost. Scarlet is also used for Holy Week, though purple is also allowed. Black (with purple as an alternative) may be used on Ash Wednesday. The only day which does not have a color is Good Friday, when all the paraments are traditionally removed from the church. The color for Holy Saturday is white or gold since it is the day when the Great Vigil of Easter is celebrated, though until the vigil, the church would remain void of paraments.
Read more about this topic: Liturgical Calendar (Lutheran)
Famous quotes containing the words liturgical and/or colors:
“But how is one to make a scientist understand that there is something unalterably deranged about differential calculus, quantum theory, or the obscene and so inanely liturgical ordeals of the precession of the equinoxes.”
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948)
“He hath ribbons of all the colors i’the rainbow.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)