The Meaning of Advent

Advent Calendar

If you were looking for articles that only deal in Ho Ho Ho, you might be a tad bit disappointed.  But don't fret, we'll get to the wonderful man in the red suit later on -  I promise.  Christmas deserves a full discussion and there isn't any better place to start than with the actual reason for the  holiday which is of course, CHRIST.  

But before we can get to Christmas, we have quite a bit of of ground to cover.  So we might as well start with the period that precedes Christmas - which is not black Friday, or shopping madness week, but rather - Advent.

The Season of Advent is an important liturgical period in the Christian Calendar which begins four weeks before Christmas - usually between November 27th and December 3rd and ends on Christmas Eve at Sundown.  Advent loosely translated from Latin means, "the coming" or "the arrival".

In the Anglican and Roman tradition, the church sanctuary including the communion table is adorned in purple and the officiant also wears vestments of purple or blue.  As with most traditions, there is a duel explanation for the use of the color purple. On one hand, purple is the color of Royalty which reflects the arrival of Christ the King.   Purple is an interesting color because it is also symbolic of suffering used during the Lenten period.   There is a distinct recognition by Christians about the connection between Christ's birth, and his death, and resurrection which forms the cycle of Christian teaching.  Obviously, there is more to the birth of baby Jesus than a baby being born in a manger surrounded by animals and angels which is sometimes overlooked; which is the fact that Christ was brought into Earthly existence, intentionally, for the purpose of  suffering, dying on the cross, and opening up the gates of Heaven for believers of everlasting life.

During the early church years, Advent was originally practiced as a period of penitence and fasting,  Over time, the Church saw a transition in its interpretation from this view to a season of anticipation and hope.  Also, during the third week of Advent some denominations shift from purple to pink as celebratory symbolism joy in Christ's coming.  As this Advent denotes the first arrival or birth of Christ, the second Advent will be Christ's return.

The Advent Wreath (pictured above) is often placed on the communion table or on a side table in Anglican and Roman Christian services during the Advent season.  The Advent Wreath consists of a round green wreath with five candles, four around the wreath and one in the center.   

The Wreath is symbolic in that it represents God's endless mercy and His eternity having no beginning and no end.  The candles represent the light of God coming into the world through the birth of his son, Jesus.  The four outer candles represent the four Sunday's preceding Christmas.  Further, it is said that the four candles represent the four centuries of waiting between the prophet Malachi and the arrival of Christ.

As with the colors represented by vestments and Church adornments, the color of the candles also have symbolic meaning. There are four candles which are lit sequentially throughout the four weeks, three of the outside candles are purple (representing pertinence and/or royalty), and the fourth is pink (celebratory or joy) - it is lit on the forth week of Advent.  Generally speaking, the first three weeks of Advent are more solemn in terms of the Biblical readings, sermons, and hymn selections - a more reserved and reverent period of waiting and prayer, while the fourth week is a more celebratory service, as sort of climax of the season filled with joy and excitement about Christ's arrival.

The center white candle is referred to as the Christ Candle and is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (if Christmas falls on a Sunday).  The Advent Wreath remains lit through January 6th or the start of Epiphany.

Some interpretations of the lighting of the candles, the order, the location on the wreath, the rationale for symbolism, and other elements go much deeper than what I have described here.  For the most part, what I have described here covers the basics.  Also, some traditions in Eastern and Orthodox Christian Churches may substitute Purple for Royal Blue, or light the Pink Candle on the third week of Advent. 

It's easy to get caught up in creating and defining ritual and the expounding on the use of visual tools, which is created sometimes to expand upon symbolism for symbolism's sake.   It's more important to understand the underlying purpose of Advent and Christmas -  Christ's birth and the reason for his coming which is what Christmas is REALLY about.

The original blog article can found at my blog Random Selection which is located at  www.randsel.blogspot.com