Advent 1st Sunday

In Churches using the Gregorian calendar, Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and marks the beginning of the liturgical year. Advent therefore begins, at the earliest, on November 27 and, at the latest, on December 3 and ends on December 24.

The Orthodox Churches and the Eastern Catholic Churches observe a period of fasting and penance that is equivalent to Advent, but this term has only recently been used: this liturgical time of preparation for Christmas is traditionally called the Fast of the Nativity. This fast lasts 40 days, while in the Latin rite it is four weeks, and six weeks in the Ambrosian and Mozarabic rites.

In Catholicism, the Advent period celebrates the triple coming of Christ: his birth in Bethlehem, his coming into the hearts of men of all time, and his return at the end of time. From the beginning of the liturgical year, the triple reference to the past, the present and the future is present.

The Catholic Church no longer observes fasting or abstinence during Advent. The service follows the same rites as Lent, with little difference, and a spirit of penance presides over it. The liturgical color is purple, but it used to be black. On the Sunday of Gaudete (3rd Sunday) is celebrated in pink: we are approaching the Nativity and the white used at Christmas shines even into purple.

Weddings are prohibited there until Epiphany; this is explained by the fact that originally the feast of the birth of Jesus was celebrated on January 6, under the name of Theophany.

Inspired by a tradition from Germany XVI^e century, the Advent wreath was invented in 1839 by Pastor Johann Heinrich Wichern in order to contain the impatience of the children he was educating; he then made a wooden wreath, with nineteen small red candles and four large white candles. Every morning, a small candle is lit and, every Sunday, it is a large candle; custom has retained only the large ones.

The tradition of the Advent calendar seems to have its origins in Germany, At XIX^e century, when Protestant families had the custom of putting up, every morning, a pious picture commenting on a phrase from the Gospel or an incentive to do a good deed, on the wall, and this for twenty-four days, in order to channel the impatience of the children until Christmas Day.

The images became increasingly sumptuous from the 1850s onwards and were sometimes even published in the form of triptychs, with flaps to open to discover the central drawing. It was this idea of hidden images that gave rise to the advent calendar. The calendar was then composed of a set of 24 windows that were opened each day to discover an image.

The advent calendar usually starts on the 1st^er and ends on December 24, which does not correspond exactly to the time of Advent, which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. Some calendars, closer to the original idea, do not systematically have 24 days, but a number of days varying between 22 and 28 depending on the duration of Advent.