The Liturgical Year
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The Sundays and weekdays of the major seasons of the year
(Advent,
Christmas,
Lent, and
Easter)
are determined by their relationship to Christmas and Easter.
Ordinary time (i.e. "ordered time")
refers to all other Sundays and weekdays. There are either
33 or 34 weeks of ordinary time, depending on the year, and
they are divided into two parts of the liturgical year. Ordinary
time begins when the Christmas season ends and continues until
Ash Wednesday, then picks up again after Pentecost and continues
until the first Sunday of Advent.
Here is a JavaScript
program that generates the liturgical calendar for
any given year.
Advent:
Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, and
runs until December 24.
Christmas:
The Christmas season lasts from Christmas until the Sunday
after Epiphany, the Baptism of the Lord.
Lent:
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with the Mass of
the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday.
Easter Triduum:
The Easter Triduum begins with the evening celebration
of the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, and
ends on Easter Sunday. These are the three holiest days
of the Church year.
Easter:
The Easter season consists of the fifty days between
Easter and Pentecost.
Determining the date of Easter
Together, the Lenten season and the Easter season make up
about a quarter of the entire year.
Ordinary Time:
The first part of ordinary time starts with the Sunday after
Epiphany -- which is always celebrated as the Feast of the
Lord's Baptism -- and runs until Ash Wednesday.
Since the date of Easter varies from year to year, the first
part of Ordinary Time can be as short as four weeks or as long
as nine weeks.
The second part of ordinary time begins on the Monday after
Pentecost and ends before the First Sunday of Advent.
If there are 34 ordinary weeks in the year, the numbering of
the weeks picks up where it left off before Lent -- the week
after Pentecost is the one that follows the last week celebrated
before Lent.
If there are 33 ordinary weeks in the year, the first week that
would (in a 34-week year) follow Pentecost is omitted.
"Based on actual events!"