The participants in the Mass wear traditional garments that have come down to us from the ancient church of late antiquity. The alb is a white robe with loose fitting sleeves, secured with a rope called a girdle. The amice is a piece of cloth worn around the neck, under the alb. Deacons or subdeacons wear a dalmatic (the ancient tunic) and the chief celebrant wears a chasuble, a sort of poncho. The stole worn over both shoulders by the priest probably originated as a badge of office, and the deacon’s stole worn over the left shoulder, and the maniple, worn over the wrist by all three sacred ministers, are vestigial server’s napkins, or towels. The colours of the vestments symbolize the seasons of the Christian year, with white for festivals, red for martyrs’ days and Pentecost, green for the ordinary season and purple for Lent and Advent.