This weekend time we will begin the advent season. Advent is a Christian Festival that is observed in churches as well as the home. This simple ceremony can take place in the home when the family is gathered together during the main meal. It is a time to remember the First Coming of Christ and to anticipate His Second Coming.
The Symbols The Circle of the Wreath: God Himself, His eternity and His endless mercy, without beginning, nor end.
The Green of the Wreath: Our hope of newness, renewal and eternal life. Light of the Candles: The Light of God that came into the world through Christ to bring newness, life and hope. Lighting the Candles: The progressive departure of darkness from the world as the more and more light is shed through the candles.
Four Candles: The four weeks of Advent, representing the four centuries between the time of the Prophet Malachi and the birth of Christ. Three Colored (purple or blue) Candles: A period of waiting, expectation and preparation.
The First Candle: A time of expectation and hope.
The Second Candle: The peace that is to come.
The Pink (or Rose) Candle for the Third Week: It symbolizes joy for the promise is almost fulfilled.
The Fourth Candle: The love of God for humanity.
The Fifth White Candle (if applicable). Called the "Center Candle", it is lit on Christmas Eve or Day to display that the light of Christ has come into the world in fulfillment of the prophecies.
The History of Advent Advent, as we know it today, is a creation of the Western churches that looked to Rome as their leader. There were two main streams flowing into it. The first came out of France, during the fourth century AD, probably from Celtic monks. A period of about six weeks before Christ's Mass was used as a penitential and devotional period, a lesser Lent. The second stream came from Rome, where there was a practice of having a three-to-six week fast during which they had to come to church regularly. This was a fast before the feast of Christmas time.
The current form of Advent took shape under Pope Gregory I, who set the current four-week length, and wrote liturgical materials for use in Advent. By the 10th century, the Celtic 'get ready' prayers and practices had been fully brought into the Roman form. Later on, the church adopted a system of liturgical colors, and Advent received a purple color not unlike Lent's. The 20th century brought a rediscovery of joy in Advent preparations. This was signaled among Protestants by using the color blue (with or without a touch of red in it). Some highly-Catholic areas (for example, in parts of the Philippines) hold special services on the nine days before Christmas (starting 16 December), as a worship novena.
In Latin countries, the days before Christmas are marked by the posada, the journey of Mary and Joseph to find shelter in the days before Jesus' birth. The people playing the roles go from house to house, being turned away at each, until a house takes them in -- with a party ready to start upon their arrival.
The Eastern Orthodox have a preparation for Christmas, too, called the Nativity Fast. It starts the day after the 14 November, St. Philip the Apostle's Feast, and goes 40 days until 24 December. It's much more like Western-Church Lent than Advent, though it is not as strict as the Orthodox's Great Lent. Like in Lent, the Nativity Fast's purpose is to prepare through repentance, and it is a somber period. It is not so somber on the Forefeast of the Nativity (20-23 December), when Nativity hymns are sung every day, and when the Russian Orthodox put up happy hangings and symbols in their churches. (This is when the Orthodox holy season feels most like the Catholic or Protestant Advent.) The strictest day is 24 December, the Nativity Paramony, when no solid food is eaten until after the Vespers service that evening.
Advent nowadays has fallen on hard times. For most people, it's become a time to get ready for whatever you're doing with family and friends on Christmas, and not a time to get ready for the Christ child.
The bigger Christmas became, the more it swallowed up Advent. In fact, whatever Christmassy thing we think of as being done before Christmas Day is actually done in Advent. In the US, everything after Thanksgiving is now seen as a part of Christmas. The main problem is not that Christmas intrudes on Advent. The real problem is that people no longer keep their Christmas focus on Christ, and then the Christless Christmas saps Christ from Advent.
Practicing Advent as a religious season may help recover Christmas, but it can't do it by itself. If we don't look to Jesus every day in every season, you'll lose Advent, Christmas, Lent, and even Easter. Since Advent is a time to stir-up our faith in the Lord, the wreath and its prayers provide us a way to augment this special preparation for Christmas. Moreover, this good tradition helps us to remain vigilant in our homes and not lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas.