The colour calendar
147 days of the year that have colours of their own: festivals, national days, remembrances and causes, with what is worn and shown on each. Dates are worked out afresh every day.
Sponsored ClearTrust ClearTrust measures traffic quality for the advertising industry and publishes free guides like this one.
November 2026
1 to 2 Nov 2026All Saints' and All Souls' DaysWhite in church for the saints, then graveyards glowing with candles and heaped with chrysanthemums.
29 Nov to 22 Dec 2026AdventFour candles on a green wreath, three purple and one rose, lit one by one on the Sundays before Christmas.
30 Nov 2026St Andrew's DayA white diagonal cross on blue, the Saltire of Scotland, and tartan in every clan’s colours.December 2026
January 2027
6 Jan 2027EpiphanyWhite and gold in church for the visit of the Magi, and three kings in jewel-coloured robes in the street parades of Spain and Latin America.
19 to 20 Jan 2027TimkatCrowds in white cotton, and priests under embroidered umbrellas of red, gold and purple, for the Ethiopian feast of the baptism of Christ.February 2027
5 to 9 Feb 2027Carnival in BrazilFeathers, sequins and body glitter in every colour, with each samba school parading in its own two colours.
9 Feb 2027Mardi GrasPurple, green and gold: the three colours of New Orleans Carnival, on beads, flags and the sugar of the king cake.
10 Feb to 27 Mar 2027Ash Wednesday and LentA grey cross of ash on the forehead, then forty days of purple in church, with one Sunday of rose.March 2027
1 Mar 2027St David's DayYellow daffodils and green leeks pinned to coats in Wales, with the red dragon and the gold cross of St David on black.
17 Mar 2027St Patrick's DayGreen clothes, green shamrock, green rivers and green lights around the world for Ireland’s patron saint.
21 Mar 2027Palm SundayGreen palm and olive branches carried into church, red vestments at the altar, and in Poland tall "palms" of dyed dried flowers.
26 Mar 2027Good FridayBare altars, black and purple, and in Guatemala carpets of dyed sawdust laid in the street for the processions to walk over.
28 to 29 Mar 2027EasterWhite and gold in church after the purple of Lent, white lilies, and eggs dyed and painted in spring colours.
May 2027
2 to 3 May 2027Orthodox Easter (Pascha)Eggs dyed deep red, cracked one against another, and a midnight church filled with the light of hundreds of candles.
16 May 2027PentecostRed vestments and red flowers, for the tongues of fire in which the Holy Spirit came to the apostles.
27 May 2027Corpus ChristiWhole streets carpeted with flower petals, dyed sawdust and coloured salt, laid for one procession and gone by evening.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Mardi Gras: Flickr user radiate2357, CC BY 2.0, source
- Epiphany: Gentile da Fabriano, Public domain, source
- Timkat: Jean Rebiffé, CC BY 4.0, source
- Carnival Brazil: Alan Betensley ( Abetens at en.wikipedia ), Public domain, source
- Ash Wednesday And Lent: Manuela Paki-Costa, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- St Davids Day: National Assembly for Wales, CC BY 2.0, source
- Palm Sunday: Pietro Lorenzetti, Public domain, source
- Good Friday: Bellina 09, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Easter: Piero della Francesca, Public domain, source
- Orthodox Easter: Ikonact, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- St Georges Day: Raphael, Public domain, source
- Corpus Christi: Fennec ., Public domain, source
- Meskel: DanielGirmaTsige, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- All Saints And All Souls: Fra Angelico, Public domain, source
- Advent: Jonathunder, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- St Andrews Day: Henryk Siemiradzki, Public domain, source
- St Lucys Day: Fredrik Magnusson, CC BY 2.0, source
- Christmas Day: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Public domain, source