So the time of year is coming up to Christmas, everyone realises they haven’t bought any presents yet and now we have Advent to remind us.
Now I know that this isn’t really celebrated or known in the UK, so let me explain a little bit about this fairly nice tradition.
Advent is the time before Christmas and it’s part of the holy season of the Christian church. Advent literally translates as ‘coming’ and serves as a reminder of the original waiting that was done by the Hebrews for the birth of their Messiah as well as the waiting that Christians today endure as they await the second coming of Jesus the Christ.
These days it’s mainly seen as a run up to Christmas, as Advent is celebrated on the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. The four Sundays of advent are often traditionally celebrated with four candles with one to be lit each Sunday. The tradition of the Advent calender also comes from Advent. Traditionally Advent calenders start on the 1st of December and lead all the way until the 25th.
Advent is celebrated in most European countries, especially northern ones, like Scandinavia.
Advent, Advent,
Ein Lichtlein brennt.
Erst Eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier,
dann steht Weihnachten vor der Tuer.
Happy 1. Advent! :D
Cat
6 Comments
There’s supposed to be 5 candles, 1 lit every sunday leading upto Xmas and 1 lit on Xmas day. 7 years in a catholic school for you ;)
7 years catholic school? Oh dear, I feel Sorry for you. :P
In Germany there is only 4 candles. Infact I’ve never heard of 5 candles before…. It’s 4 candles every sunday prior to Christmas. ;)
I’ve only got four candles too..
And I didn’t know it started today.. we’ve been doing the prayers for a week now.. :-p
And the sad thing is we have no candles because our old ones shrank and we couldn’t find a shop with new ones.. oh well…. imagination is fun, I guess.
It officially starts today.
To be honest, I haven’t had the candles for years now. I just can’t really be bothered I suppose.
Oh I never knew about this.I don’t think they do it here in India.We’re only shown Jesus’ crib in our school which is a convent.We do get to hear them singing hymns every sunday cause my house is quite close to my school and they have a church inside the school premisis.
Maybe they do light candles too.I’ll ask our sister ;)
It’s definitely a more European tradition as far as I’m aware. Mainly Scandinavian, although it is celebrated everywhere in Germany.
I’m surprised it’s not more known here in the UK.
It’s very interesting that there are so many traditions that aren’t known or celebrated in other parts of the world. But then again you have your own traditions. :)
2 Trackbacks
[...] Today is the 2. Advent. Don’t forget to light the 2. candle. [...]
[...] Regardless, it’s Sunday, the 2nd of December 2007, it’s only three more Sundays until Christmas which means that today is… The first Advent! I explained it last year, so head back to the original post for more explanation. [...]