Advent is The Season Before Christmas

Advent has splendid customs and music all its own. Maintaining them in the busy rush toward Christmas will help to slow down that rush and keep things in perspective. The Advent wreath and special prayers that go with the lighting of the candles bid us gather round our dining room tables to eat together as a family, instead of gathering around the television with microwaved meals. The Advent calendar and Jesse tree bid us to think prayerfully each day of the coming celebration. As the daylight wanes towards the Winter Solstice and the celebration of the coming of the Light (the Lord) into the world and our hearts we can make these shortening days count as oases of family time. Join in the celebration of Advent and the recovery of this beautiful season.

December 1 The Feast of St. Edmund Campion

December 3 The Feast of St. Francis Xavier

December 4 The Feast of St. Barbara; St. John Damascene

December 6 The Feast of St. Nicolas

December 7 The Feast of St. Ambrose

December 8 The Feast of the Immaculate Conception

December 12 The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

December 13 The Feast of St. Lucy

December 26 The Feast of St. Stephen

Many Advent Wreaths can be found ready made in religious supply stores or religious bookstores. When I was growing up we made ours starting with a styrofoam ring. We pressed holes for the candles and dripped wax into them to help hold the candles in place. Wire rings exist now with durable metal cups to raise the candles above the ring. These are better.

Molded resin rings with the cups evenly spaced for the candles are also a good choice now. They are durable, so they are more environmentally friendly than the old styrofoam rings and will hold the candles in place far more safely.

You will need a ring either to be decorated with greens or not. Evergreens if you are using them will need to be wired into place. (Do not use a wreath designed for display on the door or the wall; it will not hold the candles securely and could be a fire hazard.)

You will need four candles, three purple and one rose (very deep pink, not red). The three purple candles symbolize penance, which is an aspect of the keeping of Advent that has gotten lost in the commercial glitz hustle of our modern Christmases. The rose candle is lit on the third Sunday, to indicate that Christmas is getting nearer and that the penance will be completed and be transformed into joy.

Finally you will need four lengths of ribbon about a foot each to tie bows around the bottom of the candles just above the base of the wreath.

As Advent comes to its conclusion and Christmas nears we sing the O Antiphons as a part of Vespers. They are

Sapientia, Wisdom see Is. 11:2-3

Adonai, Lord of Israel see Is. 11:4-5

Radix Jesse, Root of Jesse see Is. 11:1

Emmanuel, God with us, Is. 7:14

Clavis David, Key of David, see Is 22:22

Oriens, Radiant Dawn, Dayspring, see Is. 9:2

Rex Gentium, King of all Nations, see Is. 9:7

The source for my list here is a wonderful web site, http://www.fisheaters.com/customsadvent10.html, which is in the links below. This site has texts for the O Antiphons in both Latin and English and has the notation for the music in chant. In addition there are mp3 files, which you can listen to of the antiphons being chanted.

I have made a separate lens about the Jesse Tree. Please search on the topic Jesse Tree in the Squidoo search box above, or see the link list below.