Advent Customs and Traditions
Advent is the season of preparation for the coming of Christ, both in the flesh at Christmas and again in glory at the last day. It begins on Advent Sunday, the fourth Sunday before Christmas, which falls between November 27 and December 3, and it ends on Christmas Eve. The Collects of Advent pray chiefly for grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light. The season is kept first by the Daily Office and the Sunday Collects, and only then by the household customs below, which are customs and not rules.
The Sundays of Advent
The four Sundays carry the season. The first Sunday looks to the Second Coming; the Sundays that follow look, through the prophets and through St. John the Baptist, to the First Coming. The third Sunday is Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin for "Rejoice," taken from Philippians 4:4. It is the one Sunday on which rose vestments are sometimes used instead of violet or blue; the colour is a custom, not a Prayer Book rubric, and AnglicanWiki's Advent page already notes the debate over violet and Sarum blue.
Stir-up Sunday, the Sunday before Advent, takes its name from the Collect beginning "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord." In household use it has long been the day for stirring the Christmas pudding; the custom is harmless and homely, and it belongs to the kitchen rather than to the liturgy.
Advent wreath and candles
A wreath of evergreen with four candles, one lit on each Sunday of Advent, is the commonest household Advent custom. It is a teaching aid, not a sacrament: the growing light marks the approach of Christmas, and the wreath itself is best used at family prayer, with the Collect of the Sunday and a portion of Scripture. A fifth, white candle for Christmas Day is sometimes added in the centre; it is optional.
Advent calendars and the Jesse Tree
An Advent calendar, with a door or a verse for each day from December 1 to December 24, is kept in the same spirit: a daily, short reminder of the season for children. The Jesse Tree carries the same idea further. A bare branch or a small tree is hung, day by day, with symbols of the ancestors and forerunners of Christ — Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, and the rest — following the genealogy in St. Matthew chapter 1 and the prophecies of Isaiah. Both customs are modern in form and ancient in matter, and both are best tied to the Daily Office lessons for the day.
The Nativity scene
A crèche, or Nativity scene, is set up during Advent and completed on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The custom is to build it gradually: the stable and the animals first, Mary and Joseph arriving as Advent advances, and the Christ Child and the shepherds only at Christmas, with the Wise Men arriving at the Epiphany. The point is the same as the Jesse Tree — to let the house itself rehearse the story in order, rather than to display a finished scene from the first Sunday.
Saints and days in Advent, in order
December 4, St. Barbara. A commemoration of an early martyr, kept in some calendars and not in the Prayer Book calendar. She may be remembered as an example of steadfastness under persecution. Nothing is asked of her.
December 5–6, St. Nicholas Eve and Day. St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, stands in the Prayer Book calendar on December 6. He is remembered for charity to the poor, and the household custom of a small gift, a stocking, or an act of secret charity on his eve belongs to that example. It is not a second Christmas, and it does not displace the coming feast.
December 7, St. Ambrose. Bishop of Milan and teacher of the faith, remembered in some calendars for his hymns and his defence of the Church's freedom. An optional commemoration.
December 8, the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This day stands in the historic Prayer Book calendar. It is kept as a commemoration of Mary as the mother of our Lord, chosen by grace, and not as the Roman dogma of the Immaculate Conception proclaimed in 1854, which teaches that Mary herself was conceived without original sin. No petition is addressed to her, and no doctrine beyond Scripture and the Creeds is added to the day.
December 12, Our Lady of Guadalupe. Not a Prayer Book feast. It belongs to the devotional life of Mexico and to Roman apparition devotion, and it is not carried over as an Anglican observance. A family with Mexican heritage may still note the day culturally; it is not presented here as a feast of the Church.
December 13, St. Lucy, and the Advent Ember Days. St. Lucy, a martyr of Syracuse, is remembered on December 13, and her day gives its name to the Advent Ember Days: the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday following it. The Ember Days are Prayer Book fasts, kept for prayer for those to be ordained and for all Christians in their vocation. In household use they are days of simpler food and of prayer for the ministry, not of any special devotion to St. Lucy herself.
December 16–24, Las Posadas and the Novena de Aguinaldos. These are the household customs of Mexico, Central America, and Colombia in the nine days before Christmas: a nightly procession seeking lodging, as Mary and Joseph sought lodging in Bethlehem, and a nightly course of prayer and song. They are included here as cultural customs that a family may adopt in adapted form — prayer to God, Scripture, and song — and not as liturgical observances of the Prayer Book.
December 17–23, the O Antiphons, or Golden Nights. At Evening Prayer in the week before Christmas, the Magnificat is sung with one of seven great antiphons, each beginning "O": O Wisdom, O Lord, O Root of Jesse, O Key of David, O Dayspring, O King of the Nations, O Emmanuel. These antiphons are scriptural in matter and belong to the Daily Office itself; they are the finest of the Advent customs, and they need no addition. They are sung, not prayed to any saint.
December 21, St. Thomas the Apostle. St. Thomas stands in the Prayer Book calendar on December 21. He is remembered as the apostle who doubted and then confessed, "My Lord and my God," and his day in dark December is a fitting reminder that faith is given, not manufactured, in the season of waiting.
What is not in an Anglican Advent
Rorate Masses, as a votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin before dawn, are not carried over: the Daily Office of Advent, with its Collects and lessons, already gives the season its early-morning shape, and no votive Mass to the Virgin is appointed by the Prayer Book. First Saturdays and other promised devotions attached to Marian apparitions are likewise left out. The season's penitential character is kept in the Prayer Book way — by the Collects, by simpler living, and by the Ember fasts — rather than by a second Lent imposed on the household.
Household resources
The following suppliers make Advent goods suited to the customs above. They are listed as a convenience to households and parishes, not as an endorsement.
- St. Andrew's, Lake Almanor (Chester, California) makes 100% beeswax Advent candles through the St. Andrew's Store:
- Family Advent Candle Set – extra-long beeswax tapers sized to last the whole season, for the household wreath.
- Church Advent Candles Set – four outer candles (1 7/16″ × 16″) and a Christ candle (3″ × 14″) for a parish wreath; candle followers are recommended.
- Church Outer Advent Candles – refills of the four outer candles only, for parishes whose Christ candle still has burn time left.
- These sell out early in the season, so order by early November.