The Church Year is organized into seasons that reflect our spiritual understanding of Jesus' life among us, and have little to do with planetary seasons or particular cultural observations of holidays.

Learn more about: Advent Christmas Epiphany Lent Holy Week Pentecost and the Season after Pentecost.

Of course, "holiday" comes from "Holy Day," and during the time when the church and the culture were the same, church seasons and Holy Days were observed by the whole culture.

Today, in Western society, we live in a multi-religious context and holidays generally do not coincide with religious observance, though sometimes they do. 

The life of the parish of St. Stephen's follows the rhythm of the church year, though at times the culture around us impinges on that!  This is one of the challenges that Christians (and indeed every religious tradition) have to face. 

In each season, the rites, music, vestments and staging of the space are changed to reflect the spirit of the season.