What Is Advent? A Guide for Everyone

Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve. It is, in the Christian calendar, the season of waiting. Not waiting in the sense of tapping your foot by the door, though that is also applicable in December. Waiting in the sense of expectation, preparation, and the long human longing for something that has not yet fully arrived.

The word comes from the Latin "adventus," meaning "coming" or "arrival." It refers, in the first instance, to the coming of Jesus at Christmas. In Christian theology it also refers to a second coming, which is why Advent has a dual character: it looks back to the birth of Christ and forward to a promised future. It is simultaneously historical commemoration and eschatological anticipation. These are big words for what is, in practice, a season of candles, hymns, and chocolate calendars.

The Advent Wreath

The most recognizable Advent symbol is the wreath: a circle of evergreen branches holding four candles, one for each Sunday of the season, often with a fifth white candle in the center for Christmas Day. The candles are typically three purple (representing penitence and expectation) and one pink or rose (representing joy, lit on the third Sunday, which has the wonderful Latin name "Gaudete," meaning "Rejoice").

The wreath is thought to have pre-Christian origins in northern European winter celebrations but was adapted by Christians in the early modern period. By the 19th century it was widespread in German Lutheran practice and spread from there.

Each Sunday of Advent is traditionally associated with a theme. Common framings include: hope, peace, joy, and love. Different churches use different readings and different emphases. What they share is the structure of building anticipation over four weeks toward Christmas.

Advent Calendars

The Advent calendar is one of those traditions that started as a devotional practice and became, in large part, a vehicle for chocolate. The modern printed Advent calendar with windows to open each day from December 1 to 24 developed in 19th-century Germany. Today they come filled with everything from chocolates to cosmetics to Lego pieces to, in their original form, scripture verses or devotional art.

The underlying idea -- marking off the days until Christmas with a small daily ritual -- is genuinely ancient. Counting down toward a feast is something humans have always done. Advent just gives it a structure.

How Churches Observe Advent

Different Christian traditions observe Advent differently. Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, and mainline Protestant churches tend to observe it formally, with liturgical colors shifting to purple or blue, specific scripture readings, and the weekly candle lighting. Evangelical and non-denominational churches vary widely: some observe Advent rigorously, others treat it as optional background atmosphere.

The music changes too. Traditional Advent hymns like "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" and "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus" have a different quality from Christmas carols -- more minor, more yearning, more focused on what has not yet arrived. Some churches strictly avoid Christmas music until Christmas Eve. Others begin playing "Jingle Bells" on December 1 and make no apologies.

Advent for Non-Christians

Advent has, in recent decades, become something that many non-Christians observe in some form. The calendars, the candles, the general atmosphere of intentional December preparation -- these have appeal beyond specifically Christian practice. There is nothing wrong with this. The impulse to mark the dark days of December with light and anticipation is deeply human, and Advent is one of the more elegant traditions for doing so.

For those inside the Christian tradition, Advent is a reminder that waiting is not passive. It is an active posture of readiness and hope, oriented toward something specific: the claim that God entered human history as a child in a stable, and that this arrival changed everything.