How this site is written.

The five tests

A page must pass all five. If it does not, it is not published.

1. The pastor test

Could a thoughtful pastor (Catholic, Evangelical, Mainline Protestant, or Orthodox) hand the page to a member of their congregation without embarrassment? If a page would make any of them wince, it fails.

2. The atheist test

Would a non-Christian attending the occasion find the page useful and not preachy? A guest unfamiliar with Christian practice should be able to use this site as comfortably as anyone in the family. If a page assumes belief, asks the reader to pray, or addresses the reader as a believer, it fails.

3. The specificity test

Does the page give the reader something concrete (a thing to do, a thing to bring, a thing to expect) that was not obvious before reading it? Vague platitudes fail. Every page must clear the bar of being useful at the moment the reader arrives.

4. The tradition test

Where Christian traditions do different things at the same occasion, the page names those differences accurately and does not pick a favorite. A Catholic baptism is not a Baptist baptism; a Methodist wedding is not a Greek Orthodox wedding. If a page presents one tradition as the default and others as variants, it fails.

5. The gift honesty test

When a gift is recommended, the recommendation has to hold up on its own: a real reason why this thing is appropriate for this occasion and this relationship. A recommendation that exists only because of an affiliate commission fails.

Specific checks applied before publication

These are the concrete pre-publication checks. A reader can verify them by inspecting any published page.

• Scripture is named, not invented. Every scripture reference on this site is verifiable in a standard public-domain translation. Verses are cited by book, chapter, and verse; readers can check them in any Bible they have to hand.
• Denominational claims are sourced from each tradition. When the site describes what a tradition does at an occasion, the description works from that tradition’s own published materials (catechisms, prayer books, official orders of service, denominational handbooks). Cross-tradition comparisons draw on at least two independent reference sources.
• Disputes are named, not resolved. Where Christian scholars or traditions disagree (on a translation, a practice, a contested rite), the page names the disagreement and stops. It does not pick a winner.
• Uncertainty is admitted. Where a fact is genuinely uncertain (a tradition’s practice in a given region, a date that varies by community), the page says so. It does not guess.
• Pastoral notes appear where they matter. Pages touching grief, crisis, marriage difficulty, illness, or death include a plain note that the site is informational, not pastoral, and a pointer to where pastoral or crisis support can be found.
• Affiliate links are disclosed. Pages containing affiliate links carry a disclosure on the page itself, not only in the footer. Only recommendations that would stand without the commission appear at all.

The hard rules

These are absolute. They apply to every page.

• The site does not tell readers what to believe. It describes what a tradition believes, what a text says, and what is customary.
• The site does not assume a reader’s denomination. A reader arriving from a Catholic search is not assumed to be Catholic. A reader arriving from an Evangelical search is not assumed to be Evangelical.
• The site does not speak as a believer to a believer. “We believe” and “as Christians we” do not appear here. This is observational pastoral writing, not in-group devotion.
• The site does not present one tradition as “the Christian way.” Christians do many things at the same occasion. The page reflects that.
• The site does not preach. No exhortations. No spiritual advice. The site describes what is happening and what is expected.
• The site does not include political commentary. This is a site about Christian occasions, not about which Christian votes for whom.

Corrections

Corrections to factual errors (about a tradition, a date, a practice, a translation, anything) are made promptly once the error is verified, generally within a few days of receiving a report. Reports can be sent to the contact address in the footer of this site (hello@christianoccasions.com). The published page is the standard; readers can compare any page against it.

About the mark

Readers sometimes ask about the small geometric mark that appears throughout this site: a circle crossed by a horizontal line. It sits in the logo, in section headers, in the corners of occasion cards, and woven into the page as decoration. The mark belongs here for a reason.

The mark is, in its geometric form, the alchemical symbol for salt as used in medieval Christian Europe. Medieval alchemy was largely practiced by Christian scholars, including monks and priests, who understood the transmutation of matter as a study of God’s creation. Salt in that tradition was one of three principles representing the body that holds the soul. Aquinas wrote on alchemy. Isaac Newton, a serious alchemist, was also a serious Christian. The symbol’s roots are in the Christian intellectual life of the Latin West.

What gives the mark its weight, though, is what salt means in scripture. Salt runs through the Bible as a sign of preservation, purity, covenant, and quiet witness. Jesus told his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, “You are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). Paul instructed the Colossians to let their conversation be “seasoned with salt” (Colossians 4:6). The book of Numbers calls God’s promise “a covenant of salt forever” (Numbers 18:19). The book of Leviticus required salt on every grain offering (Leviticus 2:13). Mark records Jesus saying, “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:50).

Christian occasions are the moments where ordinary life gets salted: held, marked, made savory, kept from spoiling. A baptism preserves a name in a community. A wedding seasons two lives together. A funeral keeps a memory from being lost. The mark belongs to that idea. It is a small reminder, on every page, of what the site is for.