Liturgical Colors for the Church Year

Black is seen very seldom during the year. The calendar calls for its use only twice; on Good Friday and Ash Wednesday. There’s no mistaking the message that this sober color gives. Black is the absence of light. Good Friday, or Black Friday in combination with Ash Wednesday, calls for sober reflection on the cost of our redemption. Without Christ’s sacrifice on the day the sky turned dark and hid the light of the sun, there would be no bright Light of Christ to live in, nor new life in Christ to enjoy. – LCMS Church Year Liturgical Colors

Usages

While researching the use of black within the Lutheran Church, it seems black was also the color used for funerals, as noted in documents dating from the early 1900s.  Now, the color of the current season is used for funerals.  The use of colors has changed over time, or perhaps we lose or forget colors and their reasons over time, or limited resources force the use of fewer colors.  But following the color charts by seasons as we do today is still fairly recent within the history of the church vestments.

Today, many resources are available such as the liturgical wall calendars above, which may be hung in the sacristy. The calendar shows which colors are used for the various seasons and festival days.

Stepping back in time and looking at the color chart from Hinda Hand’s book Church Needlework, we might gain a clue as to why some churches no longer use or are aware of the use of Black for certain days.

In consulting Hinda Hands’ book Church Needlework, she notes that:

“Wherever Black was ordered, Violet, Purple, Dark Blue, and Ash-colour, or Grey, seem to have been considered equivalent. So Green also replaced yellow.”

On Hinda Hands’ Color Chart above entitled “Table of Liturgical Colours According to the Ancient Use of Five English Dioceses or Conventual Churches Compared with that of Rome,”  she lists colors for Westminster, Sarum, Exeter, Wells, Lichfield, and Rome. The colors for Lent, the first four weeks for Westminster and Lichfield are listed as black; Exeter is Violet as is Rome, while Sarum is listed as Unknown (in practice White, red). The last two Sundays in Lent vary equally between Dioceses using either Red or Violet.

In Beryl Dean’s book “Ecclesiastical Embroidery” she discussed color noting:

Lenten Array, “off white.” Used throughout Lent, or for the first four Sundays only.

Black for Funerals, All Soul’s Day (or blue or violet) in the Church of England and in the Roman Church, Good Friday.

If one were to go back even further in time, churches used their best set, regardless of color for festival days, and whatever else they might have for funerals or ordinary days.  The same often holds true for poor churches that did not have the means of having sets of every color for the various seasons of the church year.

The best advice given in many of the classic books on vestment making and Ecclesiastical embroidery is to consult with the pastor or someone from the dioceses or Synod before embarking on the making of any vestment project.  If that someone has knowledge of church history, that would be even better.

I know there are other color charts similar to the Hinda Hands color chart, but for tonight those books are a bit illusory, and morning will be here far too soon.  When the resources resurface, I’ll be sure to give an update.

Solo Dei Gloria

Be sure to visit our online store front Ecclesiastical Sewing where you may shop for Liturgical Fabrics, altar linen fabrics, church vestment-making patterns, liturgical machine embroidery designs,  church vestment trims and notions and so much more. You may also find us on  Ecclesiastical Sewing on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Sign up for our mailing list at the bottom of the page on our online store front and receive a free copy of our Small Linens Booklet as our way of saying thank you for following along.