4 minute read
Sacred and Secular Calendars
by David Haberstock
We live in time. Time is both linear and cyclical. Cycles of time such as seasons, yearly anniversaries, and recurring “holy-days” give meaning to our lives. On certain dates, we take stock of things, are reminded of our history, and review the narrative we tell ourselves about our identity. In the Church, we call these recurring Holy Days (or “holidays”) the Sanctoral Calendar, from the Latin word “sanctus” meaning holy.
The world also has a “sanctoral calendar” of things which are “holy” or “sacred” to it. For instance, in Canada Remembrance Day (November 11) is an annual day to ponder our history and values as a nation. It recalls Armistice Day, which marked the end of the Great War.
As new days, months, or seasons are added to the secular “sanctoral calendar,” it is worth pondering what is being taught by them—especially “holy days” or seasons that don’t recall a specific historical event. What do these days mean? What do they intend to teach? Holy days are set apart for the purpose of teaching and driving home certain truths or values for a group of people. A sanctoral calendar is a way of making your collective values concrete. In a world increasingly less Christian, celebrating our Christian calendar becomes increasingly important as a bulwark against the teachings of the world.
The first half of the Christian calendar (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter) marks the life and work of Jesus—from His birth, and the events surrounding it, to His suffering, death, and resurrection. It does so because we live, move, and have our being in the God made flesh, and all history revolves around this universe altering reality!
The second half of the Church Year (from Pentecost onward) marks the life and growth of the Church, which is His body. It is through us, His Church, that Jesus brings the benefits of His life, death, and resurrection into the world. These two truths (Jesus’ incarnation and His Church) are the key to understanding all of reality.
Seasons on a calendar also have special ways of celebrating and distinguishing them. Recently, you may have decorated your house for Christmas, and you may have taken all those decorations down. During Epiphany, when the Christmas decorations are put away, people often comment how bare the church looks. Well, let me tell you a great tidbit of churchly tradition that most of us have lost track of!
Prior to the advertising industry’s invention of the modern Coca-Cola Santa Claus and the secular Christmas season (from Black Friday to Boxing Day blowouts) focused on buying, people did not decorate for Christmas in Advent. Rather, the decorations and tree came out on Christmas Eve and were left up throughout the 12 days of Christmas. This was a high holy season in the midst of the darkest part of the year (in the northern hemisphere) to drive the cold winter away and remember that the Light of the World has come!
Now, due to the constant push for purchasing, Christmas decorations come out earlier and earlier, and tend to be put away by most on Boxing Day. But whether your pastor, or altar guild, try to keep up the tree and decorations till Epiphany (January 6) or not, the decorations and visual markers of joy go away.
But historically this was not so. Yes, the boughs of holly and baubles on the tree went away (real trees and branches wither after the 12 days). But the Nativity scene was left up in houses and churches until February 2, 40 days after our Lord’s birth, the day Mary went to the Temple for purification (Luke 2:22-32). This was because until the ritual cleansing of mother and baby on the 40th day (think of the Flood and the cleansing of the earth from sin, or baptism and the cleansing of individuals by water and the Word), mothers were often in seclusion, and thus, the Nativity or our Lord was honoured and remembered till that day.
February 2 thus served to bookend the Christmas season, and became known not just as the Purification of Mary, but as Candlemas, for on that evening was held a Divine Service with candles (the origin of our Christmas Eve candle light services) at which the light of the World was now publicly presented to the World. February 4 is the earliest day on which Ash Wednesday can occur, and as the light spread from Jesus into the world, the Christian calendar has a proliferation of saints days in February—which populated the Church’s meditations in Lent—leading up to the great joy of Easter! This Church calendar and its traditions are a concrete way to celebrate and remember our faith.
