12 Days of Ash – An introduction to Lent, during which our most powerful acts of penitence should take place.

1st Day / Ash Wednesday – A day to begin the fast of Lent, the foreheads are marked with an ashen cross or sword.
9th Day / Repentance Thursday – The beginning of the final weekend of the 12 Days of Ash, during which acts of extreme charity should take place. It should be stressed that this is a solemn occasion, and not an moment of levity.
12th Day / Ash Sunday – The culmination of the Dozen of extreme penitence.

20 Days of Lent – The interval between the Days of Ash and Days of Holiness.  This interval is the heart of Lent.

12 Days of Holiness – The lead-in to Easter, symbolized by black.

1st Day / Black Sunday – Known in some churches as Passion Sunday. In Reform Unitarianism, since the Passion takes place at the end of the dozenal in which this Sunday falls, Passion imagery is avoided during this period.
5th Day / Holiness Thursday – AUR observation of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
8th Day / Palm Sunday – The traditional date of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
12th Day / GARDEN THURSDAY – Commemoration of Jesus’ Holiness, his acceptance of God’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane. One of the Four Great Thursdays of American Reform Unitarianism.

Crucifixion Friday – Lamentation of the execution of Jesus, symbolized with crimson.

Vigil Saturday – Commemoration of the Harrowing of Hell, and the solemn recognition of purgative universalism.