The Liturgical Calendar
After we published Rosabel, the first story in our 2020 Liturgical Calendar Storywriting Project, a friend approached me to ask me some questions about the project. In particular, they asked what the Liturgical Calendar was.
Below is a very, very high level explanation of the calendar, as well as what the liturgical calendar writing project aims to do.
What is the liturgical calendar?
The liturgical calendar, also known as the liturgical year, the liturgical cycle, the Christian year, the church year, and the kalendar, is a recurring set of “seasons” (longer, defined periods/times) and holidays that are designed to remind us of certain parts of the Christian faith.
Even if you’re not a Christian, or not part of a denomination that adheres to a liturgical calendar, you’ve probably heard of some of the seasons and holidays.
Advent, the four weeks before Christmas, and Lent, the 40 days before Easter, are arguably the most popular liturgical seasons, and popular liturgical holidays include Easter, Christmas, and many other examples.
The 2020 Liturgical Calendar Storywriting Project
For the last few years, I’ve written a short story each Lent inspired by Lent’s themes of mortality and solemnity. It’s been a really fun regular reoccurring project that I look forward to each time Lent approaches, and it’s helped me jolt my faith out of autopilot every year.
Throughout 2020, I’ll be expanding this idea and putting out short stories based around themes from each of the big liturgical seasons (maybe even some holidays!) as we go through them. During Lent, because I’ve got a bit of a backlog, I’ll be putting out one a week, but it’ll slow down after easter.
I’ll add in seasons and holidays below as I start to write about them, so this story should morph quite a bit over the course of the year.
Seasons
Lent
Lent is a season that directly leads into and includes Holy Week (the week leading up to Easter Sunday). It kicks off with Ash Wednesday, a holiday where we’re reminded of our own mortality, and it ends the night before Easter. It’s a solemn stretch of time. You’ll likely hear about some folks giving things up for Lent. This isn’t a requirement at all, but some folks like to do it to help maintain a solemn mindset throughout the season and keep their focus directed towards God.
Big Themes: Repentance, mortality, contrition, confession
Holidays
Ash Wednesday
The start of Lent! Ash Wednesday reminds us that we have come from dust and to dust we will return. The reason Christians do this is because we believe that God became man, in the person of Jesus, and died for us. We remember Jesus’ mortality as we mediate on our own mortality, and our pastors and priests give us a physical reminder of this by putting ash on our foreheads (hence the name).
Big themes: Mortality, repentance
