Unitarian Universalists honor and celebrate a wide range of holidays and occasions over the course of a year. Unlike other faith traditions that use a single lectionary (a collection of scripture readings appointed for a given day or occasion), the topics and themes for Unitarian Universalist worship services are usually chosen independently by worship leaders in congregations. These include unique UU traditions, like the Flower Ceremony, as well as holidays from other faith traditions, such as Christmas or Beltane.
View and download the 2023-24 UUA Worship Calendar (PDF), which includes faith-based and secular holidays that UU congregations often celebrate. The calendar also includes monthly worship themes used in popular theme-based ministry programs. To download or print, follow the link and use the File menu, then select the Landscape layout option.
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December sixteenth, Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales (1835). When the man he loved married a woman, Danish Unitarian Hans Christian Andersen wrote one of his first and most beloved fairy tales of a mermaid's tragically unrequited love. His timeless tales include several Christmas classics...Image | By Ralph Yeager Roberts | November 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, America, Arts & Music, Christmas Eve / Christmas, History, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Unitarianism, Winter Solstice / Yule -
December fifteenth, the First American Christmas Tree (1832). Unitarian Minister Charles Follen delighted his son and party guests with a Christmas tree as he had growing up in Germany. They had postponed the festivities until New Years so that British author and Unitarian Harriet Martineau could...Image | By Ralph Yeager Roberts | November 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, America, Christmas Eve / Christmas, History, Unitarianism, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule -
December fourteenth, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” (1865). Unitarian poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote “Christmas Bells” (a poem later set to music and renamed “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”) just months before the end of the Civil War.Image | By Ralph Yeager Roberts | November 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, America, Arts & Music, Christmas Eve / Christmas, History, Resilience, Unitarianism, War, Winter Solstice / Yule -
December thirteenth, first department store Santa (1890). Department storeowner James Edgar delighted customers’ children by walking about the store on weekends dressed in a Santa costume. Edgar aspired to broad-mindedness in his religion, and though not a member he attended the Unitarian church...Image | By Ralph Yeager Roberts | November 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, America, Arts & Music, Christmas Eve / Christmas, History, Secular, Winter Solstice / Yule -
December twelfth, Christmas Day is Clara Barton’s Birthday (1821). Clara Barton, Universalist and founder of the American Red Cross, is a hero of our liberal religious faith. We remember her around the holidays season since she was born Christmas Day, 1821. But in the season when we recall the...Image | By Ralph Yeager Roberts | November 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, America, Arts & Music, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Healing, Health, International, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular, Universalism, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule -
December eleventh, Charles Dickens’ "A Christmas Carol" (1843). Unitarian Charles Dickens impacted the way Christmas is celebrated today more than any other individual. "A Christmas Carol" has been credited with popularizing everything from turkey dinners and family gift exchanges to holiday...Image | By Ralph Yeager Roberts | November 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, America, Arts & Music, Christmas Eve / Christmas, History, Redemption, Winter Solstice / Yule -
December tenth, Christmas Scenes in "Little Women" (1868). Unitarian Louisa May Alcott wrote over a dozen Christmas-themed stories and poems in addition to the Christmas scenes in "Little Women.” Her description of a holiday with the March family nurtured a growing sense of American nostalgia for...Image | By Ralph Yeager Roberts | November 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, America, Arts & Music, Christmas Eve / Christmas, History, Secular, Unitarianism, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule -
December ninth, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" (1849). "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” was written by Unitarian Minister Hamilton Sears while recovering from a nervous breakdown. The melancholy carol’s conspicuous omission of any reference to Jesus or his birth has drawn criticism from orthodox...Image | By Ralph Yeager Roberts | November 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, America, Arts & Music, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, History, Unitarianism, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule -
December eighth, first Christmas Tree in the White House Blue Room (1912). From the New York Times, December 26, 1912: "With the President and Mrs. Taft at Panama, their son and daughter established a new precedent at the White House in the way of a Christmas party to-night....Image | By Ralph Yeager Roberts | November 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, America, Christmas Eve / Christmas, History, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule -
December sixth, The Modern Look and Lore of Santa Claus (1863). Universalist Thomas Nast produced over seventy illustrations of Santa. It is from Nast that the world first learned of Santa's red suit, that he gives coal if you're naughty, and even that Santa, as a world citizen, belonging to no...Image | By Ralph Yeager Roberts | November 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, America, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Playfulness, Secular, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule -
December fifth, "Jingle Bells" (1857). First performed at a Thanksgiving event by the Sunday school children from the Unitarian Church in Savannah, GA who were led by the church music director and the song’s composer James Pierpont. “Jingle bells” was published in 1857, but only gained...Image | By Ralph Yeager Roberts | November 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, America, Arts & Music, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Winter, Winter Solstice / Yule -
December fourth, the earmuff is invented (1873). Lifelong Unitarian Chester Greenwood received the Patent for the first earmuff when he was 15. His factory manufactured the new winter wear for over 60 years. However, Chester himself worked as a mechanic in a bike shop he opened using profits from...Image | By Ralph Yeager Roberts | November 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Winter Solstice / Yule -
December third, Currier and Ives (1834). Founded by Unitarian Nathaniel Currier, the Currier and Ives Printing Firm published an annual set of winter images....Image | By Ralph Yeager Roberts | November 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Advent, America, Arts & Music, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Winter -
December second, Kwanzaa first celebrated (1966). Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga, Kwanzaa's founder, received some of the money needed to develop and publicize Kwanzaa through a Unitarian Universalist fund set up to support black empowerment. Drawing from traditional West African harvest celebrations...Image | By Ralph Yeager Roberts | November 23, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Kwanzaa, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity -
To prepare for this Message for All Ages, you’ll need to do the following: remove a small white tea light from its aluminum casing make a fake candle out of a turnip or jicama: carefully peel and cut (adults only!) until your disc of turnip is the same size as the tea candle. (The aluminum case...Time for All Ages | By Erika Hewitt | November 20, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Children's / Religious Education Sunday, Children's Sabbath, Direct Experience, Doubt, Freedom, Playfulness, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Responsibility, Truth, Unitarian Universalism, Wonder -
A man sits on the rubble— not just in the rubble, but on the pile of what remains. No people in the bombed-out houses. No dogs. No birds. Just ragged hunks of concrete and loss. And on his perch he is playing an instrument constructed of what is left—an olive oil can, a broom handle, a bowed...Poetry | By Lynn Ungar | November 20, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Arts & Music, Direct Experience, Grief, Healing, Hope, Humanism, War, Wholeness -
Source of all, This is my third attempt at a prayer. The first two revealed to me that I am angry, which I didn’t realize until I just couldn’t bend those prayers into what I thought they should be. What is wrong with us, how can we be so depraved and cruel, how is it we do not learn, how can we...Prayer | By Elizabeth Lerner Maclay | November 20, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Compassion, Hope, Human Rights, Interdependence, Nonviolence, Stewardship, Unitarian Universalism, Violence -
Spirit of Hope, God of Many Names, Source of Love, We gather, hearts heavy with grief for our neighbors in Paris, in Beirut, in Baghdad; all cities victimized by terrorists. We pray for the victims, for the families, for the communities marred by chaos and hatred. May they have the resources they...Prayer | By Jude Geiger | November 20, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Acceptance, Compassion, Direct Experience, Immigration, Inclusion, International, War -
I heard the Second Brandenburg Concerto played in honor of Bach’s 300th birthday, and I was swept away. I remembered a story about the people who send messages into outer space. Someone suggested sending a piece by Bach. The reply was “But that would be bragging.” Some say we get what we...Reading | By Robert Walsh | November 18, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Arts & Music, Awe, Beauty, Direct Experience, Gratitude, Humility, Thanksgiving, Wonder, Worth -
Any time, Friday evening, Sunday morning, Monday afternoon Any place, Paris Beirut Baghdad West Bank Chad Cameroon Lebanon Syria Somalia Sinai Charleston Any number, 132 19 2 43 1 228 10 Fear invites new participants to its dance of death But every time, In every place, Numbers beyond counting ri...Meditation | By Randolph Becker | November 18, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Faith, Fear, Hope, Humanism, Love, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Terrorism