Banners, paraments, and vestments

[pmcleanj]

Is anyone here involved in altar builds (more correctly called "Lord's Table" guilds <grin>) or in the construction of fibre-arts materials for liturgical worship? Or just have strong opinions about the role played by traditional fibre arts in creating the spiritual context for worship?

What paraments are essential in the context of your own worship space? Saint Stephens, for example, only ever uses a superfrontal on the high altar, to avoid covering the elaborate carving of the Agnus Dei on the altar front. Christ Church Yukon, when I attended there in the summer of 1980, always used the same altar-frontal for all seasons because it was an elaborately beaded deerskin that celebrated the First Nation culture of that place. Emmanuel is at the moment debating whether a pulpit-frontal (which has another name that eludes me at the moment -- anyone?) is appropriate or whether the pulpit should sport carved decoration instead.

Should vestments be part of the parament suite and owned by the church (on the principal that no two shades of violet ever go together?

What colours are important, and which are an ostentatious invasion into the sedate Anglican cycle of violet, white, green and red? Is blue for Advent a good idea, or an invasion of Lutheran liturgical praxis? Is rose-pink for festivals of the Virgin a form of creeping mariolatry, or just a funny colour (or a good idea?) Does Sarum blue count as blue, or as violet, for liturgical purposes?

Should paraments and vestments be hand-stitched, or can we get away with machine-stitching or even modern adhesives? Or should we just order them all from obscure monasteries at $1K per frontal?

Any and all opinions welcome!

[gtsecc]

I would love to know hwo to make vestments.
Fewer and fewer parishes have guilds doing this sort of work.

[pmcleanj]

Oh, and particular question for Chalice Thunder -- from an acoustical perspective, how many banners are too many? We don't have stained glass in our new building, or much by way of clear glass for that matter. From a colour-and-iconography perspective, banners are going to have to fill that ecological niche. But they're obviously going to be less sonically "bright" than glass would be.

[AveMaria]

Fabulous topic!

To the best of my knowledge, our Altar Guild doesn't do any sort of needlework - I feel like it's a lost art, and this saddens me, greatly. I love the image of generations of (traditionally) women serving the Lord in this way, every stitch a prayer.

I'd love to see more Anglicans step out of our comfort zone of violet/white/green/red. One good reason is that children to tend to notice these things, ("Mommy, last week everything was green and today it's white. What happened?" - what a lovely teaching moment!).

To answer your questions:

* No two shades of violet ever go together, from a practicality viewpoint, vestments should be owned by the church.

* What colours are important? I'd like to see Marian rose-pink more often, and not just because pink is my favorite color. Some of the Marian blues are also gorgeous.

* Sarum blue is difficult to categorize - I've seen heated debates pretty evenly split on whether it should count as blue or violet.

* I like the idea of vestments and paraments being hand-stitched, but the world has changed so much that this just isn't feasible.

* My one pet peeve - why, oh why, do so many churches use that horrid shade of rancid split-pea soup green during Ordinary times, when there are more palatable acceptable alternatives?

[pmcleanj]

Oh, I'm so glad someone else notices these things enough to care about them!

I'd love to see more Anglicans step out of our comfort zone of violet/white/green/red. One good reason is that children to tend to notice these things, ("Mommy, last week everything was green and today it's white. What happened?" - what a lovely teaching moment!).

You have put your finger here on the most important reason I see for having a liturgical-arts ministry: inclusivity. I realized a couple weeks ago (when the organizers for our <wince> "Forty Days of Purpose" campaign asked me to write up a brochure about the Intergenerational Bible Study that I facilitate -- but not about the Banner ministry or the Liturgical Dance ministry) that in fact all three are part of the same focus, to whit, welcoming children in worship without excluding adults.

A church richly decorated with colour and texture will engage children, without the need to interrupt the beauty of the liturgy to explain things, or to replace glorious hymns and prayers with simplistic alternatives.

But isn't that a reason to stick with four colours? That children can easily learn the pattern: Violet for preparation, white for celebration, red for the fire of the Spirit, green for the growth of the church. When you add rose-pink, black, and blue, it starts to acquire a complexity that some adults (let alone children) simply tune out. Also, for catching people's interest, it probably matters more that the colours change frequently, or at least not infrequently, than that there be a great variety of colours. Actually using the red paraments for the feasts of martyred saints and the white paraments for unmartyred saints (including the Blessed Virgin) instead of just leaving the green paraments in place for twenty-odd weeks could achieve the desired result. Or, another suggestion I've heard and rather like, is that a church acquire two or three sets of green paraments: a bright spring-green for the early part of pentecost, a darker summer green for after Lammas, and a muted autumn-green for after Michaelmas. The different sets could use different iconic motifs to emphasize the changes and the maturing of season. What do you think (assuming of course that none of the greens are reminiscent of pea-soup <grin>)

[AveMaria]

Excellent point about not introducing too many elements - it would confuse many, both adults and children. I have been in churches where, on a non-white/violet/green/red day, the Rector made a point of mentioning either during his sermon or during his announcements (or it was printed in the bulletin) why things were pink, this seemed to work fairly well. My current church hands out a large informational packet to new members, which includes an explanation of the different liturgical colors.

One of my favorite things to do, is work with the Children's Chapel, teaching liturgy and symbolism. They really do notice the vestments and the stained glass and the banners! It is such a joy to see them make the connections!

You could also argue, that even if people didn't understand why the vestments and paraments changed color, they would still register it on a subconscious level. Of course, let's not get things too complicated, lest the Altar Guild go on strike!

I *love* the idea of having multiple sets of greens. (Just so long as no pea-green!).

[benedictine]

I think blue should be used during Advent, simply becouse of the fact that it represents the Virgin Mary's involvement in Christmas better.

[pmcleanj]

I think blue should be used during Advent, simply becouse of the fact that it represents the Virgin Mary's involvement in Christmas better.
But is it really appropriate to emphasize the Blessed Virgin's role more than it is? And is not her involvement in Christmas distinct from her role in the Advent, to the degree that the Advent season is distinct from the Christmas season?

Advent recapitulates the whole history of God's plan of Salvation leading up to the Nativity. The lectionary (the RCL, as well as the 1662 one-year lectionary) illustrates this focus:
the First Sunday tells the story of Creation and the patriarchs, the second Sunday commemorates the role of the Prophets, the third Sunday John the Baptist, and the fourth Sunday the Blessed Virgin.
And the fourth Sunday often has rose-pink paraments just as the fourth candle in the Advent wreath is rose-pink (unless you follow the Vatican practice of celebrating "Gaudete" on the third Sunday instead of the fourth). So is it really apropos to use virgin-blue for the first, second, and third Sundays of Advent, or just for the fourth (as an alternative to rose pink)?

[Bonifatius]

just as the fourth candle in the Advent wreath is rose-pink
Hi pmcleanj,

are you telling me that the candles in your Advent wreath have different colours? I think that's definitely wrong! We invented the Advent wreath and here the candles have traditionally the same colour: red. :) (Unfortunately we do not hold the copy right for Advent wreaths - that would solve many of our economic problems :D )

Could you please explain how you do Advent wreaths: 3 candles one colour (which one?), one candle in rose (the fourth for the BVM). And something else I ought to know to get my wreath this year "american style"? ;)

Greetings
Bonifatius

[benedictine]

Three red candles, for the first three sundays in Advent. The fourth candle is rose-pink for the Virgin Mary. The fifth candle is white, and is lit on the Feast of the Nativity.

[pmcleanj]

Could you please explain how you do Advent wreaths: 3 candles one colour (which one?), one candle in rose (the fourth for the BVM). And something else I ought to know to get my wreath this year "american style"? ;)

Hi, Bonifatius!

You know, yours is the first I've ever heard of red candles, at all ( with one exception which I'll explain). And benedictine expects the first three candles to be red, too, so it must just be me.

Most "history of the advent wreath" summaries I've read say that the original Nordic Advent wreaths probably sported plain beeswax candles, or white candles once synthetic waxes replaced beeswax. The Advent wreaths I first encountered used the liturgical colours: violet for the first three Sundays, and rose-pink for the fourth, white for Christmas Day. Then I started hanging around with Lutherans who used three blues, a pink and a white.

My father's wife is an anthropologist whose main research areas are the sociology of religion, and Native studies, particularly among the northern Cree. She tells me that many Cree who are Christian have adopted the custom of the Advent wreath, but combined it syncretically with the symbolism of the medecine wheel. So for them, the North candle is blue (among the southern Cree, black), the East and West candles green and yellow (respectively, I think, but I might have them backward), and the South candle is red (that's the one exception, and you've got to admit it's pretty obscure).

Most of the sets I've seen for sale are violet and pink -- and furthermore, that's how it was at the church where I was baptized, so that must be the One True Advent Wreath! ;)

[Bonifatius]

Three red candles, for the first three sundays in Advent. The fourth candle is rose-pink for the Virgin Mary. The fifth candle is white, and is lit on the Feast of the Nativity.
Many thanks, Benedictine! :idea: :hug:

[Bonifatius]

Most of the sets I've seen for sale are violet and pink -- and furthermore, that's how it was at the church where I was baptized, so that must be the One True Advent Wreath! ;)
How practical - you can buy them in sets with different colours then. I will have to combine different sets this year to get the right colours, but that's worthe the effort ;)

Many thanks
Bonifatius