It’s probably not news that your religious affiliation greatly alters your Christmas experience. What’s news – and the entire point of this blog, pretty much – is that it’s easy to miss or misunderstand some beautiful traditions if they fall outside of your religious or cultural background.
I advocate for a pluralist holiday season because I think “Happy Holidays” invites us all to have way more fun! Understanding one another’s traditions and celebrations gives us all a lot more to feel joyful about.
Advent wasn’t a part of my upbringing. I celebrate Christmas. I was raised in a nondenominational Christian church. I had heard of Advent. I just didn’t really know anything about it. I was familiar with Advent calendars and just assumed it meant December 1 - 25 (actually, Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas, ending on Christmas Eve. Or on the Sunday that falls closest to St. Andrew’s Day.)
Pulling together holiday décor this year, an Advent wreath was proposed. And I was like. “A what now?” So, at the tender age of 36, I was shown an Advent wreath. And thus, you get this post. The gift that keeps on givin’ the whole week or two through.
Like so, so, so many of our Christmas traditions, the Advent wreath has its origins in – last call for bets – 16th century Germany, with the Lutherans. But it wasn’t until the 19th century that Johann Hinrich Wichern really solidified the idea. His wreath had candles for every day of Advent, but four large candles stood for the Sundays of Advent. The weekday candles weren’t really practical for churches, so they were ditched.
Raise your hand if you think this sounds familiar! We’ll dig deeper in to St. Lucy’s Day next, but yeahhhh… pretty sure she got there first. Simpsons did it!
Tons of meaning was assigned to the colors, the candles and the shape over the years. But in its modern iteration, the candles are usually purple and rose – which correspond with the liturgical vestments for the Sundays of Advent. Depending on your tradition, the candles are lit in succession and correspond to the concepts of Hope, Love, Joy (the pink one) and Peace. The center candle (white) represents Christ, and is lit on Christmas Day. Some also have each candle representing specific portions of the nativity story, or specific emotions tied to the Advent season.
Why is Joy pink? The third Sunday of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday – from Latin meaning “rejoice ye,” taken from the first word of the introit of the day’s Mass:
Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete. Modestia vestra nota sit omnibus hominibus: Dominus enim prope est. Nihil solliciti sitis: sed in omni oratione et obsecratione cum gratiarum actione petitiones vestræ innotescant apud Deum. Benedixisti Domine terram tuam: avertisti captivitatem Jacob.
Those of us raised with an eyebrow-up about Latin may recognize the English:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your forbearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. Lord, you have blessed your land; you have turned away the captivity of Jacob.
Advent originated as a 40-day fast in preparation for Christmas (which began the day after St. Martin’s Day). While that has changed in most traditions, the penitential spirit of the Advent season has remained. Gaudete Sunday is a bit of a gear shift, reminding people that, yes, this is a season of Joy.
So how did Advent become Advent calendars in most of our minds? (Never minding that most people just don’t “do” Advent.)
The number of days leading up to Advent fluctuates between 22 to 28 days. That would make it hard to have a calendar you could reuse each year. So, instead, most simply start with December 1 and run through Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
A little countdown to Christmas Eve (or Day) is a practice anyone who celebrates can jump in on – even if they don’t actually follow the prescribed Advent Lectionary. (Don’t worry, we’ll cover the Julekalendar in another episode.)
And while Thurman Merman’s advent calendar may have told the nativity story (while offering delicious chocolates – or aspirins), many of us have purely secular advent calendars. Socks, dog treats, jellies, beauty products, sex toys, wine, chocolate, cheese, beef jerky, Legos, rocks, coffee, Bourbon, Swarovski crystals girl, hot sauce, ornaments, books, candles, tea, Play-Doh, beer… it’s easy to see why we don’t necessarily think of Hope, Love or Peace (but probably Joy, actually) when we crack open the little, tiny, adorable doors of our calendars.