Meaning and Significance
Advent is a Christian festival.
The word 'Advent' comes from the Latin word 'adventus', which
means arrival or coming. Thus, the festival of Advent is
a time when Christians prepare for the birth or arrival of
the Christ (Christmas).
Advent is the beginning of the Church
year for most churches in the Western tradition. It begins
on the fourth Sunday
before Christmas day, which is the Sunday nearest November
30, and ends on Christmas Eve (December 24). If Christmas
Eve is a Sunday, it is counted as the fourth Sunday of Advent,
with Christmas Eve beginning at sundown.
The special significance of Advent lies
in man's innate longing for total union with the Creator.
Christians believe
that from the earliest days of human existence, man had gone
apart from God. The purpose of coming of Jesus Christ is
to show us the way back to the Creator. Thus, Advent celebrates
the "coming" of the Christ (Guru
principle) as
a man.
There is yet another way of looking
at Advent. There are many times during our spiritual journey
when it seems that
God is silent and the road ahead seems hard. At this time
we should remember God's fulfillment of His promise by sending
The Christ. Advent is a reminder that by always choosing
God (Sat),
even when our emotions are barren and our intellect clouded,
we will always gain spiritually.
Historical perspective
In keeping with the religious significance
of Christmas, the Church as early as the 5th Century set
apart the four Sundays preceding Christmas as a time of devotional
preparation, of meditation, fasting, prayer and repentance,
known as the Advent Season, which ends with Christmas. Each
of the four Sundays before Christmas was assigned a particular
aspect of the coming of Christ to be meditated upon. The
first week of the season of Advent was assigned to focus
on the Biblical prophecies of the birth of the Christ.
Celebration
The beginning of Advent is a time for hanging the greens
by decorating the church with evergreen wreaths, boughs, or trees that help to
symbolize the new and everlasting life brought through Jesus Christ.
Some churches have a special worship service on a weekday
or on the first Sunday evening or even morning of Advent, in which the church
is decorated and the Advent
wreath put in place. This service is primarily comprised of worship music, especially
choir (collective singing) and Scripture reading, along with an explanation of
the various symbols as they are placed in the sanctuary.
The traditional use of candles for Advent
celebrations originated in eastern Germany. This tradition
involved three
purple candles and one pink candle. One of the purple candles
is lit the first Sunday of Advent. On subsequent Sundays,
previous candles are lit again, with an additional one lit.
The pink candle is lit on the third Sunday of Advent.
The light of the candles itself is an
important symbol of the season. The light is a reminder that
Jesus is the
light of the world. This divine light comes into the darkness
of our lives to bring newness, life and hope. The progressive
lighting of one extra candle each week symbolizes our spiritual
evolution from spiritual darkness and ignorance (ego) to
spiritual radiance (Bliss and Knowledge) by the grace of
Christ (the Guru principle).
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