Advent

[Cow Poke]

What does Advent mean to you?

Do you celebrate it in your Church? Is it a big deal? Is it the 4 Sundays prior to Christmas, with each Sunday focused on an aspect of Advent?

Is it just something you do, or does it have deep meaning for you.

If you celebrate Advent, would you miss it if you didn't observe it in your Church?

What's all involved in celebrating Advent?

[One Bad Pig]

My pre-Christmas preparations started with the Nativity fast, which begins on November 15 (since St. Phillip the Apostle is commemorated that day, it's also called the St. Phillip fast). Beginning November 21, we begin singing the Nativity canon at Matins on Sunday mornings:

Shortly thereafter, Nativity material appears in the Vespers service. The two Sundays before Nativity are dedicated to the Forefathers (Old Testament righteous) anf Fathers (Prophets, more or less). On December 20, the fast intensifies and each day from then until the Nativity has special music written for it; the services are largely modeled after Holy Week (the week before Pascha). On Christmas Eve, we celebrate the Royal Hours, which are the usual short services for 1st/3rd/6th/9th hour (7 AM, 9 AM, noon, 3 PM) augmented by special selections from the Psalms and Old and New Testament readings. Traditionally, nothing at all is eaten until the first star appears in the sky. If the full rubrics are followed (generally done only in monasteries), there would be a liturgy in the evening, followed by an all-night vigil (which even in monasteries does not typically last all night), followed by another liturgy in the morning. My parish usually just does the evening liturgy, followed by Christmas carols (since we're mostly converts, we borrow lots of carols from the West). We continue commemorating the Nativity until December 31. January 1, 8 days after Nativity, we commemorate the circumcision of Christ. January 2 begins the pre-feast of Theophany (baptism of Christ), on January 6. In other words, it's a whole lot of stuff happening in a short time period. There are special rubrics for the Sunday after Nativity (commemorating Joseph, David, and James) and for the Sunday before Theophany. It gets really crazy when January 1 is a Sunday, and several things are supposed to happen at once.

The Incarnation of Christ is celebrated on several different occasions, with various events linked to it: the Conception of Mary, Birth of Mary, Annunciation, and the Nativity itself (also related are the circumcision of Christ, the entrance of Mary into the Temple, and the presentation of the Lord in the Temple 40 days after his birth). It's a pretty big deal, but takes a clear back seat to the Resurrection.

[Sparko]

I have never celebrated it. It's a Catholic and Orthodox thing right?

[Cow Poke]

I have never celebrated it. It's a Catholic and Orthodox thing right?

I used to think so, but the Lutheran congregation with whom we shared our building celebrated it, so I became familiar with it - and have since discovered there are even Baptist Churches that observe it to whatever degree.

[One Bad Pig]

I have never celebrated it. It's a Catholic and Orthodox thing right?

Any liturgical Protestant tradition is pretty likely to celebrate it as well.

[Sparko]

I do remember getting those advent candy calendars when I was a kid. My mom was technically Catholic but we never went to church when I was a kid other than when we were at my Grandpa's who was a baptist minister.

[mossrose]

We celebrated it in a couple of Baptist churches we attended. They had a ring of 5 candles, 3 purple, 1 pink and 1 white on in the middle of the ring.

Every week we had a reading and a family would light one of the candles. Depending on the year, the purple and pink candles represented various things. The shepherd candle, the wisemen candle, etc. Sometimes the candles represented joy, peace, love, etc. On Christmas Eve the white one in the middle (the Christ Child candle) was lighted, along with all the other candles.

It was ok. Could take it or leave it.

Edit to add: Looked like this. Add the white candle in the center and that's pretty much what we had.

advent wreath.jpg

[Jedidiah]

Can any none liturgical oriented believer explain to me the point of celebrating Advent? We did the little calendar thing with our kids. To me it was just a way to add a bit more Christ into Christmas for kids. What else is it?

[mossrose]

Can any none liturgical oriented believer explain to me the point of celebrating Advent? We did the little calendar thing with our kids. To me it was just a way to add a bit more Christ into Christmas for kids. What else is it?

We did the little advent calendar when the kids were little, in fact we still do that. But as for doing it in church, as I said, I could take it or leave it. It was just more ritual that was unnecessary, imo.

[Cow Poke]

Can any none liturgical oriented believer explain to me the point of celebrating Advent? We did the little calendar thing with our kids. To me it was just a way to add a bit more Christ into Christmas for kids. What else is it?

To me (and I'm new to this) it's a way of placing more spiritual emphasis on the Christmas season where so much time and effort and money is spent on the commercial aspect. It's kinda like when we're having "Lord's Supper Sunday" (every other month) - I like to begin preparing for it at least a week or two ahead, so it's not just something we "show up for" and do out of habit.

[Rushing Jaws]

I have never celebrated it. It's a Catholic and Orthodox thing right?