church year
Christianity
Also known as: Christian calendar, liturgical year
church year, annual cycle of seasons and days observed in Christian churches in commemoration of the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and of Christian virtues as exhibited in the lives of the saints. The church year has deep roots in the primitive human impulse to mark certain times with sacral significance and ritual observance. These are times when conscious attention is given to the mysterious forces that surround and involve all living creatures in the natural and inexorable cycles of light and darkness; labour and rest; birth, growth, decay, and death. Two interrelated cycles have had primary importance ...(100 of 7998 words)