Resources for learning about the liturgical calendar?

[Aiden]

Every November and December, I hear lots about Advent and Christmas, and I hear references to the liturgical calendar. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church, where the liturgical calendar is never mentioned, so it took me a while even to wrap my head around the concept of a liturgical year. Yet I am incredibly drawn to it--to the idea of Christmas as a season, not merely a day; to the idea of annual rhythms and patterns to worship; to the idea of structured times throughout the year that are dedicated to honoring God in certain ways. I am interested in learning more about the liturgical calendar, with an eye toward incorporating aspects of it into my family's life.

 

Mostly I am interested in an overview of the different seasons, when they fall, how long they last, and how they are acknowledged/observed/celebrated in family life.

 

To show how clueless I am: I don't even know if the liturgical calendar is the same for Catholics, Anglicans, the various Orthodox traditions, etc. I would like to learn about major similarities and differences among the various "brands" of Christianity (for lack of a better way to say it).

 

If your family follows a liturgical calendar, I would love to hear recommendations about where a newbie can go for an overview! (I may eventually want more detail, but for now, we'll start with an overview.)

 

I am outside the United States in a country that is predominantly Muslim and where the few Christian congregations mostly speak Serbian or Albanian (neither of which I speak), so web pages are good, books that are available on Kindle are good, but "go down the street to the Catholic/Orthodox/whatever church and talk to the priest/get a pamphlet" won't really work for me (though I do have access to US mail, so pamphlets by mail could work).

 

Thank you for your recommendations!

[lollie010]

Thanks for asking this. I will be listening in to the responses. :)

[Chris in VA]

This is an unusual source--our Godly Play curriculum!

 

Godly Play presents stories of the Christian faith (our take is Anglican) using a Montessori-inspired approach. You can read more about it by googling.

One of the first materials presented by the Storyteller each year is The Circle of The Church Year. It's a great visual summary of the liturgical year.

Here's a good pic of the material and a small explanation of what the colors mean: Circle of the Church Year.

 

Here's a presentation of the "story." The video itself isn't that great, but it's a really good presentation and explanation.

[Aiden]

Thank you, Chris in VA! I will check out those links.

[Violet Crown]

Here is a quick overview of our liturgical calendar. We follow the old rite Catholic calendar, which has some differences from the new rite calendar. A nice book (which it sounds like may not be available to you) for families is The Year and Our Children http://www.amazon.com/The-Year-Our-Children-Celebrations/dp/1933184272.

 

Advent

Nativity

Circumcision

Epiphany

Holy Family

Candlemas

 

Septuagesima (Pre-Lent)

Ash Wednesday

Lent

Palm Sunday

Maundy Thursday

Good Friday

Holy Saturday

Easter

Ascension

Pentecost

Trinity Sunday

 

Assumption

Christ the King

All Saints

All Souls

[Aiden]

Thank you, Violet Crown! We can have items shipped from the States, so usually books are available to us. And if it's available on Kindle, it's even easier. I will take a look.

[Violet Crown]

Just to add: Wikipedia has our calendar of saints and other feast days (these are things with fixed dates, unlike Easter or Advent), because I suppose Wikipedia has everything. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Roman_Calendar_of_1960

 

There are also four Ember Day weeks (fasting) and three Octaves (feasting!) scattered throughout.

[Chris in VA]

Just to add: Wikipedia has our calendar of saints and other feast days (these are things with fixed dates, unlike Easter or Advent), because I suppose Wikipedia has everything. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Roman_Calendar_of_1960

 

There are also four Ember Day weeks (fasting) and three Octaves (feasting!) scattered throughout.

 

Ember Days are the traditional times when priests and seminarians (in the Anglican tradition) write their bishop to give an update on how they are doing! I remember dh having to write our bish in FL while we were in seminary. I wonder if an email or FB update suffices these days? :laugh:

[Laurie4b]

This site will email you daily lectionary readings: http://dailylectionary.org/

This site is set up in calendar format and you can scroll through easily: http://www.lectionarypage.net/CalndrsIndexes/Calendar2014.html

You will find that there is a lot of overlap between the various western traditions which use a church calendar/lectionary in terms of the readings, celebration days, etc.

[Guest]

When I was in your shoes, I learned a great deal from www.kencollins.com  

 

You can start here:  http://kencollins.com/lectionary/default.phpfor the Revised Lectionary used by multiple Protestant churchs,   Be sure to snoop around on the site.  It is full of fabulous information, and while Rev. Collins is Protestant, I have found nothing I object to in his presentation of the Orthodox or Catholic Churches.  

 

I used to use his site to go through my Daytimer for the year and mark with highlighters the seasons of the year.  Purple for Advent and Lent, green for "ordinary time", gold for Pascha and every Sunday and so on.  It was *wonderful* to have this way of looking at my year as opposed to just one endless month after another.  

 

And the oca.org that I mentioned in the other thread has the lectionary for the Orthodox Church, as well. http://oca.org/readings You can use this on a daily basis or to plan ahead, as you can select dates to look at.  

 

 

[Lawyer&Mom]

I really like the Waldorf festivals. Definitely Christian, but not a specific denomination. Lots of things to help children celebrate the year. Crafts, recipes, songs etc.

 

Check out All Year Round by Ann Druitt. It's on Amazon.

 

Floris Books also has good resources with great pictures.

[Violet Crown]

For the hardcore liturgical geek, the ultimate resource is Dom Guéranger's 15-volume The Liturgical Year. http://www.theliturgicalyear.org/theliturgicalyearpdfs.html

(No I haven't read it. It's on my bucket list.)

[KungFuPanda]

In this day and age, there MUST me a webcast SOMEWHERE of daily mass in English. This might help fill in the gaps from not having a local congregation.

[Tea 4 Three]

I love this website for celebrating the Catholic Liturgical Year.  It has information about the season and saints being celebrated that day and sometimes prayers and ideas for activities to help celebrate.  http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-12-21

 

 

[Tea 4 Three]

Here are a few other resources if you are interested in the Catholic Faith:

Catholic Answers Forum  (feel free to ask away!)  http://forums.catholic.com

 

If you want to watch the Catholic Mass there are several websites with webcasts.  This one broadcasts daily masses as well as Sunday Masses.

http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass

 

Another good source for information  http://www.ewtn.com/index.asp

[Momling]

ChrisinVA - We use godly play too and have on the Sunday school room wall the circle of the church year calendar. Recently, however, someone pulled everything off and set the entire thing so that it is now counterclockwise.. I looked it up, and apparently it's a thing... Any idea why??