Christmas Gems

Advent

The season of Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day and ends on Christmas Eve (Dec 24). If Christmas Eve is a Sunday, it is counted as the fourth Sunday of Advent, with Christmas Eve proper beginning at sundown.  Advent is a holy season of the Christian Church wherein we prepare for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ.  In Western Christian churches it is the beginning of the Christian year.

Many countries observe special Advent traditions and events, some are no longer observed – such as the custom of poor women to carry around the ‘Advent Images’, two dolls to represent Jesus and the blessed Virgin Mary, which used to be popular in the North of England.  People to whom these images were exhibited were expected to pay a halfpenny and not to be visited by the doll-bearers was thought to be bad luck.

Normandy farmers employed children under twelve to set alight bundles of straw in fields and orchards in the belief that this would drive out the vermin that would damage the crops.  An Italian Advent custom is the entry into Rome in the final days of Advent of the Calabrian pifferari, or bagpipe players who play before the shrines of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  It was thought that the shepherds played such pipes when they came to Bethleham to pay homage to the Messiah.

It is the custom in a number of countries to celebrate the Advent season with an Advent wreath with four candles - one of each Sunday.  In the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church three candles were purple  to symbolize hope, peace and love.  The remaining candle was rose coloured and symbolizes joy and is lit on the third Sunday in Advent, Gaudete Sunday.  Often a fifth candle coloured gold or white is put in the centre of the wreath, the Christmas candle, which is lit on Christmas Day.

The Advent calender has become very popular with children of all ages.  It originated in Germany in the 19th Centry and most advent calenders contain 24 windows - to be opened from 1 to 24 December.  The 24th December, Christmas Eve, is the main day for their Christmas celebrations.  These days in the United States calenders with 25 windows can be found, the 25th to be opened on Christmas Day.