The main Christian services usually take place on a Sunday. This is the day Jesus is believed to have risen from the dead.
There are however special services throughout the Christian year. These services celebrate important events in Jesus’ life. The Orthodox Church and the Western Church use different calendars. This means that although they celebrate the same events they may do so at different times.
Some churches celebrate festivals which other Christian churches do not. For example the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches have festivals remembering the Virgin Mary, which the Protestant Churches do not celebrate.
The main Christian services usually take place every Sunday. This is the day that Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead.
There are however special services throughout the Christian year. These services celebrate important events in Jesus’ life. The Orthodox Church and the Western Church use different calendars. This means that although they celebrate the same events they may do so at different times.
Some churches celebrate festivals which other Christian churches do not. For example the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches has five festivals remembering the Virgin Mary, which the Protestant Churches do not celebrate.
Christians celebrate the main events in Jesus’ life every year.
Advent
This is the start of the Christian church year. In the Orthodox Church Advent starts in November, in the Western Church it starts four weeks before Christmas.
During Advent Christians remember the arrival of the Angel Gabriel (who announced, to the Virgin Mary, that she would give birth to Jesus (the “Annunciation”)) and the arrival of John the Baptist (who came to prepare people for Jesus) and they look forward to Christmas (when they will remember the arrival of Jesus) and also the prospect of Jesus coming again to create a new kingdom on earth.
Christmas
This is a festival to celebrate Jesus’ birth. This was, in effect, the arrival of god on Earth. More Christians attend a Christmas service than any other.
The Western and Greek Orthodox Churches celebrate it on the 25th December. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates it on 6th January.
Epiphany
This means ‘showing.’ In the Western Church Epiphany is on the 6th January and celebrates Jesus being shown to the wise men, who had followed a star to find him. In the Orthodox Church Epiphany occurs on the 19th January. And celebrates three events. First Jesus’ birth, when he was the shown to be the long awaited Messiah, secondly his baptism and thirdly his first miracle (when he changed water into wine at a wedding).
Lent
This is a period before Easter Sunday. It lasts six weeks in the Western Church and seven weeks in the Orthodox Church. During Lent Christians remember the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, being tested by Satan, and preparing himself to begin his work as a preacher. Lent is a time of penance. Penance means self-punishment (through fasting and prayer) as a way of saying sorry for ones sins. In the Orthodox Church this penance involves strict fasting. Meat, fish and, in some places, eggs and dairy foods are forbidden. In the Roman Catholic Church it involves fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. In other Western Churches it involves trying to give something up during Lent. Shrove Tuesday (also called Pancake Day) is the day before Lent. Pancakes were a way of using up all the fat and eggs that could not be eaten when fasting.
Ash Wednesday
This is the first day of Lent. At special services, on this day, a cross will be marked, in ash, on a worshippers forehead. This is a symbol of sorrow for ones sins. The ash is made from burning palm crosses from the previous year’s Easter Sunday celebrations.
Holy Week
This is part of Lent. Holy Week is the week before Easter Sunday. During this week Christians remember special events in the week before Jesus died and try to understand his suffering and death. To help them to do this worshippers in Roman Catholic Churches will often process around the church stopping and praying at each Station of the Cross.
Holy Week starts with Palm Sunday. This remembers Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, when crowds, waving palm leaves, welcomed Jesus as the new Messiah. In the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches small crosses are made out of Palm leaves. These are blessed during the service and handed to the worshippers.
Maundy Thursday
This is the day when Christians remember the Last Supper. Maundy comes from a Latin word meaning command. At the 
last Supper Jesus commanded his disciples to love others as he loved them (John Chapter 13 Verse 34.) He also washed their feet. This was a way of showing them that they should help one another. Some Christian groups continue to do this on Maundy Thursday.
Good Friday
This is the day when Christians remember Jesus’ trial and crucifixion. The main service, in most churches, lasts from 12.00 noon to 3.00pm. This is the time when the earth plunged into darkness as Jesus died. It is a very serious occasion. The Churches are not decorated and many church ornaments are covered. In Orthodox Churches an Icon, showing the dead Christ, is carried around the inside and outside of the church building in a funeral procession.
In the Roman Catholic Church the only day on which Mass is not celebrated is on Good Friday and the Saturday after. (There is communion but with bread and wine “made holy” on Maundy Thursday.) In contrast in some Protestant Churches this is one of the few days on which Holy Communion is celebrated. It is called “Good” Friday however because Christians believe that Jesus died to save mankind. They believe that his death was a sacrifice through which mankind’s sins could be forgiven and man could once more develop a relationship with God.
Easter
This festival does not have a fixed date, as it depends on the spring equinox. (An equinox is a day in which there is the same number of hours of daylight as of darkness.) In the Orthodox Church Easter may happen at the same time but can also be up to five weeks after Easter in the Western Church. Easter is the most joyful and important of the Christian festivals. This is because it is the day that Christians celebrate their belief that Jesus rose from the dead (the resurrection.)
The Easter service, in the Orthodox Church, starts in darkness, at midnight, on Easter Sunday. The darkness symbolises Jesus dead in the tomb. The priest enters with a lighted candle from which the worshippers light their own candles. This represents a Christian’s move from the darkness of death to the light of the resurrection. The words “Christ is risen” are also spoken. The Roman Catholic Church service is similar. Christians in some Anglican and Non-conformist churches meet early on Easter morning for a sunrise service.
Ascension Day
This occurs 40 days after Easter. It always happens on a Thursday. It is the day that Jesus’ disciples last saw him leaving the earth for heaven. It is called Ascension Day as Jesus ascended (went up) Acts Chapter 1Verse 9 says:
“…he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight“
Ascension Day is not celebrated in any of the Free Churches.
Pentecost (or Whitsunday)
This festival celebrates the day that the Holy Spirit came to the disciples as Jesus had promised. When the Holy Spirit arrived the disciples were suddenly able to speak in other languages. This is called speaking in tongues. From then on they were able to teach and heal as Jesus had done. Christians believe that Pentecost is the time when Christianity started.