Saturday, November 27, 2027
The four-week season of expectant waiting preceding Christmas, beginning four Sundays before December 25.
Advent (from Latin adventus, 'coming' or 'arrival') is the four-week season of preparation that begins the Christian liturgical year, beginning four Sundays before Christmas (typically the Sunday closest to November 30) and ending on Christmas Eve. The season has a dual focus: looking back to Christ's first coming as a baby in Bethlehem, and looking forward to his promised second coming in glory. This double anticipation gives Advent its distinctive character — penitential but not sorrowful, watchful but joyful. Each of the four Sundays of Advent traditionally has a theme: hope, peace, joy, and love. The colors are violet (or in some traditions, blue), with rose for the third Sunday (Gaudete Sunday — 'Rejoice'). Advent has been observed since at least the 4th century. The season's liturgy emphasizes prophetic readings from Isaiah, John the Baptist's calls to repentance, and Mary's faith. The hymns are some of Christianity's most beloved: 'O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,' 'Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus,' and the Magnificat. Advent is meant to recover what Christmas has often lost: a deep, patient longing for the world's true king.
Advent observance traditionally includes: lighting one candle each Sunday on an Advent wreath (three violet, one rose for the third Sunday, sometimes with a central white Christ candle), violet vestments and altar paraments, the omission of the Gloria (restored at Christmas), the reading of prophetic texts from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah, and the singing of Advent hymns that withhold full Christmas joy until Christmas Eve. Many Christians keep an Advent calendar or daily devotional. Some traditions emphasize fasting and almsgiving similar to Lent.
The traditional Bible readings for Advent include:
Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas — the Sunday closest to November 30 (the feast of St. Andrew). The season ends on Christmas Eve. Because Christmas Day falls on different days of the week each year, Advent can be anywhere from 22 to 28 days long.
The four candles of the Advent wreath represent the four Sundays of preparation. Three are violet (purple) — the color of penance — and one (lit on the Third Sunday, called Gaudete Sunday or 'Rejoice Sunday') is rose. The themes traditionally associated with each are hope, peace, joy, and love. A fifth central white candle, the 'Christ candle,' is sometimes added and lit on Christmas Eve.
Advent readings draw heavily from prophetic books anticipating the Messiah: Isaiah 9:2-7 ('For unto us a child is born'), Isaiah 40:1-11 ('Comfort, comfort my people'), Isaiah 11:1-10 (the shoot from Jesse's stump), and Micah 5:2 (Bethlehem). New Testament readings include the annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), John the Baptist preparing the way (Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3), and apocalyptic texts on Christ's second coming (Matthew 24, 1 Thessalonians 5).
No — Advent is the four weeks of preparation BEFORE Christmas. Christmas itself is a 12-day season (December 25 through January 5, ending at Epiphany on January 6). Many Christians mistakenly call the entire pre-Christmas shopping season 'Advent,' but liturgically Advent is a season of restraint and longing, while Christmas is the season of celebration.