Today in Holidays

Today is the 1st day of Advent. It is also the start of a New Year for churches that use a liturgical calendar for their readings. This year it sounds like the Gospel readings with be from Matthew. Advent comes from the Latin word for arrival and is about preparing for the arrival of Jesus, both in the celebration of Christmas and in our own death/ end of the world (which ever comes first.) It started out in 581 as a time of fasting much like Lent (hence all the purple used as a sign of fasting and penitence) and was even known as St. Martin’s Lent as it started on the Feast of St. Martin (November 11th.) This was then slightly changed in the 7th century to be counted based on the number of Sundays before Christmas, but was still 6 weeks long. It was then changed by Gregory the Great to be four weeks long, who also wrote prayers for the season. The people in what is now France added the end time’s message and by the 12th century many of the ideas of modern Advent were in place. The Advent wreath like many beloved Christian customs started out as a pagan tradition that with a few small changes worked great to illustrate a Christian ideal. In this case it started out to represent life lasting in the winter and the circle of time with the candles votive offerings to the sun god for light. And was changed to be a symbol of the coming Christ, the light of the world and the everlasting life he brings. For a brief introduction on the Advent wreath click here.