What is the significance of the advent calendar

Already have a WordPress. Log in now. Loading Comments Email Required Name Required Website. Counting down the days of Advent can help us consider what it must have been like waiting for the promised Messiah, generation after generation.

Likewise, our yearly season of Advent culminates in the celebration of Christmas; but first we walk through a season in which we prepare for the feast. By looking back at His first Advent, we prepare ourselves to live in joyful expectation of His second Advent. There are many unique styles of Advent calendars. Some are overtly Christian while others play to the more secularized and generic aspects of the holiday season. For families who want to keep their focus on Christ during the Christmas season, using a nativity-themed Advent calendar is an excellent choice.

The spiritual focus of these Advent calendars is built right into the countdown, often in the form of short written devotionals that accompany the calendar.

These types of calendars are an easy way to help families start an edifying Advent tradition. These calendars simply facilitate the countdown, leaving it to the parents to be intentional about engaging their family with an Advent-themed devotional.

Similar to the days when early Advent calendars revealed a Bible verse or religious image of some sort, many calendars today are designed with a devotional intent. Each day may include a short Bible passage related to the coming of Christ that can be used for personal reflection or family discipleship.

The tradition started on radio in and first ran on Swedish television in An American radio show called The Cinnamon Bear was broadcast in the late s and early s, and was similarly arranged — six times a week from Thanksgiving to Christmas. But though Advent customs differ, they all circle back to adventus: the anticipation of something.

Advent calendars are designed for anticipating the arrival of Christmas Day, in both its explicitly religious and more secularized versions. The roots of Advent celebration, though, predate 19th-century Germany — stretching way back into the traditional Western Christian tradition, before Advent calendars were invented.

Nobody seems to know precisely when the Western Christian church started marking Advent as a season on its calendar. But it seems to have popped up early in church history, and has stayed remarkably stable since about the Middle Ages.

In Christian teaching, there are two events being anticipated. Part of the observance of Advent, celebrated for the four Sundays before Christmas, is reenacting the centuries of anticipation of the birth of Jesus as written about by prophets like Isaiah in the Old Testament. But Christian theology also contains a belief that at the end of days, Jesus will return to set things right in the world, erasing death and suffering — a concept usually called the Second Coming.

In churches that celebrate Advent, the most common factor across denominations is the Advent wreath, which was adopted around the Middle Ages. There are typically candleholders for tapers in the wreath. The colors vary slightly from denomination to denomination, but the wreath always has four candles on it — typically three dark purple or blue, one rose-colored — and a white candle in the middle to light on Christmas Eve.

On each of the four Sundays of Advent, the corresponding number of candles are lit: one on the first Sunday, two on the second, and so on. In keeping with the theme of waiting and remembering, Advent is also traditionally marked with a fast, similar to the Lenten fast that many people even those who are only marginally observant practice during the 40 days before Easter. Advent is shorter than Lent, and the fast is less widely practiced, but generally people choose to give up something — a type of food, a practice or habit, and, in many recent years, social media — in order to focus on prayer and preparation for the celebration of Christmas.

Additionally, some churches change the colors of the cloths and linens used in the sanctuary during Sunday services — often to purple. Some churches make a practice of giving away more money or participating in other community-wide practices during the season of Advent. One newish example is the Advent Conspiracy , started by a loose affiliation of mostly evangelical churches in to combat hyperconsumerism and help fund clean water initiatives.

Every Advent observance, regardless of whether it includes a religious element, touches on a need to have a bit of beauty each day during the season. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. It was 71m tall and 23m wide and celebrated the refurbishment of the station.

The most expensive advent calendar ever was made in by a jewellers in Belgium. It was made of 24 glass tubes each containing some diamonds and silver! You can also now get online Advent or 'Christmas Countdown' calendars and there's one on this site.

So during December, why don't you visit the Online Advent Calendar and find out about something Christmassy each day! There are two types of candle s that are used to count down to Christmas Day in Advent.

The first looks like a normal candle, but has the days up to Christmas Day marked down the candle. On the first of December the candle is lit and burnt down to the first line on the candle. The same is done every day and then the rest of the candle is burnt on Christmas day. I use one of these candles to count down during Advent. Lutheran Churches in Scandinavia used 24 little candles to count down through December from the s. An Advent Crown is another form of candles that are used to count down Advent.

These are often used in Churches rather than in people's homes. The crown is often made up of a wreath of greenery and has four candles round the outside and one in the middle or in a separate place. Sometimes a more traditional candelabra is used to display the five candles.