Be Aware of the Tides of Much

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Britannica

With an infusion of the Anglican Patrimony into the Catholic Church, Catholics have regained a robust collection of "tides". Hopefully this brief post will "tide you over" for a minute or two.
  1. Hallowtide or Allhallowtide: encompasses the triduum of All Saints' Eve (All Hallows' Eve or Hallowe'en), All Saints' Day (All Hallows') and All Souls' Day.
  2. Advent: a penitential season, prepares us for the birth of Christ. Advent begins on Advent Sunday and ends on Christmas Eve.
  3. Sapientiatide: The last week of Advent, starting on December 17 and ending on the day before Christmas Eve.
  4. Christmastide: lasts until the Vigil of Epiphany, known as Twelfth Night. Christmastide actually extends well beyond Epiphany and is concluded by the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin on February 2.
  5. Epiphanytide: is really a continuation of the Christmas season, and is kept until Alleluia Saturday, the day before Septuagesima Sunday.
  6. Shrovetide: lasts two weeks and two days. It is a period of preparation for Lent. Shrovetide ends on Shrove Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.
  7. Lent: begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts until Easter. The last three days of Lent are the Sacred Triduum: Maundy Thursday; Good Friday; and Holy Saturday.
  8. Passiontide: The last two weeks of Lent are called Passiontide.
  9. Eastertide: or Paschaltide ends with the Vigil of the Ascension.
  10. Rogationtide: is the last four days of Eastertide. We call down God's blessings on the new crops, with processions and litanies. Rogationtide begins on Rogation Sunday, the 5th Sunday after Easter, and ends on the Vigil of the Ascension.
  11. Ascensiontide: begins on Ascension Thursday, forty days after our Lord's Resurrection. It is nine days long and ends on the Vigil of Pentecost.
  12. Whitsuntide: refers to the Octave of Pentecost. 
  13. Trinitytide: extends from Trinity Sunday until Advent.
  14. Embertide: The Ember Days are four sets of three days of penance, one set at the beginning of each season (always a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the same week) of prayer and fasting, The groups occur after Pentecost, after the first Sunday of Lent, after the feast of the Holy Cross (Sept 14), and after the feast of St Lucy (Dec 13). Lenti, Penti, Cruci, Luci. Wednesday recalls Judas’ betrayal. Friday recalls the crucifixion. Saturday recalls the tomb.
Tide Slightly in Cheek

Epiphanytide and Trinitytide are much more poetic and engaging than the pedestrian terms Ordinary Time or Tempus per annum (time through the year). Why rob Epiphany and the Holy Trinity of their seasons?

Why tide?

tide (n.)
Online Etymological Dictionary

Old English tīd "point or portion of time, due time, period, season; feast-day, canonical hour," from Proto-Germanic *tīdi- "division of time" (source also of Old Saxon tid, Dutch tijd, Old High German zit, German Zeit "time"), from PIE *di-ti- "division, division of time," suffixed form of root *da- "to divide."

Meaning "rise and fall of the sea" (mid-14c.) probably is via notion of "fixed time," specifically "time of high water;" either a native evolution or from Middle Low German getide (compare Middle Dutch tijd, Dutch tij, German Gezeiten "flood tide, tide of the sea"). Old English seems to have had no specific word for this, using flod and ebba to refer to the rise and fall. Old English heahtid "high tide" meant "festival, high day."

The corresponding adjective tidy, too, originally meant ‘timely, seasonable, in season’; its meaning subsequently developed through ‘opportune, appropriate, fit for purpose’, to the modern sense of ‘good-looking, neat, in good order’. - MacMillan

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