What are Ember Days?

Ember days indicate the start of each season in the Catholic Church's liturgical year. The Church seasons are Advent, Lent, Pentecost, and Ordinary Time. Coincidentally (or perhaps as Church history dictates), each season also aligns with the natural seasons particularly in the US climate.

Ember days are traditionally a day of fasting and abstinence, at least in the US only a partial abstinence is observed. Abstinence means avoiding eating meat, while fasting means eating only one-full meal. It is still being practiced by traditional Catholics.

Ember Days occur on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following the feast that culminates them. Folklore has it that the weather conditions of each of the Ember day predicts the weather of the next three months respectively. See the following table.

Church season	Natural season	Starts in the Month of	Feast that triggers the start of a new liturgical season	The weather of	Predicts the weather of
Advent	Winter	December	St. Lucy (Dec 13)	Ember Wednesday of Advent	January
				Ember Friday of Advent	February
				Ember Saturday of Advent	March
Lent	Spring	February	Ash Wednesday (movable feast; 46 days before Easter)	Ember Wednesday of Lent	April
				Ember Wednesday of Lent	May
				Ember Wednesday of Lent	June
Pentecost	Summer	May	Descent of the Holy Ghost (movable feast; 8th Sunday after Easter)	Ember Wednesday of Pentecost	July
				Ember Wednesday of Pentecost	August
				Ember Wednesday of Pentecost	September
Michaelmas	Fall	September	Holy Cross (Sep 14)	Ember Wednesday of Michealmas	October
				Ember Wednesday of Michaelmas	November
				Ember Wednesday of Michaelmas	December

When are the Ember days in 2021?

The Ember days in 2021 are:

• Feb 24             Ember Wednesday of Lent
  Feb 26             Ember Friday of Lent
  Feb 27             Ember Saturday of Lent
• May 26            Ember Wednesday of Pentecost
  May 28            Ember Friday of Pentecost
  May 29            Ember Saturday of Pentecost
• Sep 22             Ember Wednesday of Michaelmas
  Sep 24             Ember Friday of Michaelmas
  Sep 25             Ember Saturday of Michaelmas
• Dec 15                         Ember Wednesday of Advent
  Dec 17                         Ember Friday of Advent
  Dec 18                         Ember Saturday of Advent

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Check out our 2021 Traditional Catholic Daily Planner for Moms on Amazon

Based on the 1962 Missal, each day in the weekly and monthly planner pages are marked with the Catholic Church’s traditional feasts: Liturgical seasons, Ember days, Saints of the day and more.

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