Advent: Four Sundays of… Joy? Seriously?
Right, so Advent. Apparently, this isn’t just a thinly-veiled excuse to stuff your face with mince pies and contemplate the crushing existential dread of another year gone by. No, according to our pals in the church, this is a time of preparation for Christmas. You know, like spiritual preparation. I suppose staring into the abyss of another year older and wondering where the hell the time went wasn’t quite ‘spiritual’ enough. Luckily, they throw in some candles for ambience, because staring into the void is always cozier with flickering flames.
Now, thinks gets interesting. Apparently, these four Sundays signify not just Jesus’ birth, but also his second coming. Because, you know, one apocalyptic event just isn’t enough.
It gets even better.
They’re also meant to represent Jesus waltzing into your life in various ways: through literal birth, through "grace" (which sounds vaguely suspicious to me), through your inevitable demise, and finally, through judgement day. Talk about a rollercoaster ride of religious significance!
Purple’s the new black…unless it’s pink. Because sometimes it’s pink.
Oh, and the whole thing’s shrouded in purple, which is apparently the colour of penitence and abstinence. Unless it’s Gaudete Sunday, which I suppose is a bit like a religious "treat yo’ self" day and warrants a cheeky pink candle. I mean, who doesn’t love a bit of liturgical colour-coding?
Pagan Origins? That Explains the Bonkers Traditions
And just when you think it couldn’t get any weirder, we delve into the wonderous world of Advent traditions. Apparently, once upon a time, Advent was a pretty hardcore affair. Think fasting, midnight bells, and probably a lot of scowling at anyone having fun.
Then things took a turn.
Suddenly, we have girls ripping threads from church bells for good luck in love (because what could possibly go wrong with that?), barricading doors to keep out fire-breathing witches, and literally debating marriage prospects over the fate of a twig submerged in water.
Oh, and don’t even get me started on Luca’s Day, where girls apparently wrote names on bits of paper and chucked them into the fire like some kind of medieval reality show.
All this reminds me of that old saying: "If it’s weird, it’s probably Catholic". Don’t tell the Vatican I said that.
Then there’s St. Andrew’s Day, or as the article charmingly dubs it, "St. Andrew the Pig Slayer." Because, in essence, nothing says "holiday cheer" like a good old-fashioned pig slaughter.
And let’s not forget the Advent calendar. Once a bastion of pious reflection, now just a chocolate-filled countdown to sugar-induced oblivion.
So, what have we learned?
Well, Advent is obviously a time of immense religious significance. It’s also a strange, often illogical, and occasionally downright bonkers mix of ancient rituals, pagan traditions, and…chocolate. It’s a lot to process. But hey, that’s religion for you, right? Always full of surprises.
Just be careful not to accidentally summon any witches by leaving your doors open.
And if you see a girl tearing threads from a bell, run for the hills.
Seriously.
Advent, which lasts from the Sunday closest to the feast of St. Andrew (November 30) to the day of Jesus Christ’s birth, December 25, is the time of Christmas preparation in the Christian culture. The word comes from the Latin adventus Domini, the coming of the Lord, in the double sense of coming: the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem and his second coming at the end of time.
The four Sundays also have an additional meaning: they symbolize the four comings of the Lord, first in the incarnation, second in grace, third in our death, and fourth in the judgment for which we must prepare. In the liturgy, the color of Advent is purple, except for the third Sunday of Advent (gaudete Sunday), when pink may be used.
In the beginning, only one Advent Sunday was celebrated, in the 7th century Pope St. Gregory the Great established their number at four, and in 1570 Pope Pius V made the Advent period mandatory in the Catholic Church. In the past, the beginning of Advent was signaled by the ringing of bells at midnight, it was a strict fasting period, and people went to morning mass (rorate). The symbol of Advent is the Advent wreath, which is usually woven from pine branches, and one more of the four candles placed on it is lit every Sunday.
The candles symbolize the light spreading through the birth of Jesus, as well as faith, hope, love and joy.
The custom came into vogue in the 19th century, but its roots go back to pagan times. There were still 24 candles on the first Advent wreath, the size of a wagon wheel, and a white one was lit every weekday and a red one every Sunday. Advent wreaths are blessed in churches on the first Sunday of Advent or at the previous Saturday evening mass. Noisy parties, dances, and weddings were avoided during Advent.
Several folk traditions are connected to Advent. At the first ringing of the morning mass, the girl in the sales line tore three strings from the bell rope, which she then wore in her hair so that she would have many companions during the carnival. In Transylvania, the door and windows were kept closed during the morning mass, so that the witches who took the form of animals at this time could not damage the houses and sheds.
In the Alföld, girls ate honey or sugar when ringing the bell for morning mass, so that their tongues would be sweet and thus “sweeten” a husband for themselves. On the day of Barball, December 4, the girls cut a branch of Barball, then put the branch in water, and if it turned green, it was known that they would get married the following year. On December 13, Luca’s Day (the shortest day of the year before the calendar reform), the girls wrote boys’ names on 13 pieces of paper and threw one into the fire every day: at Christmas, the remaining paper told who their husband would be.
At that time, they also started making Luca’s chair, on which the witches could be seen standing up during the Christmas mass. St. Andrew’s Day was jokingly called St. Andrew the Pig Slayer, because that’s when the pigs’ throats started, but never on a Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday, because people fasted then.
The original significance of the advent calendar was to lead adults and children to Christmas, behind each window of the “real” calendar there was an idea referring to the Christmas holiday circle.
(The first printed advent calendar was made in Munich in 1908.) Nowadays, the religious content fades more and more, industry and commerce have simply turned it into a December calendar, each day and page of which is sweetened with chocolate or marzipan.
How has Advent evolved over time, incorporating elements from different cultures and eras?
## Interview: Unwrapping the Mysteries of Advent
**Host:** Welcome back to the show. Today, we’re diving into a fascinating and, let’s face it, somewhat confusing time of year: Advent. To help us navigate this season of spiritual preparation and possibly questionable traditions, we have Dr. Emily Carter, a renowned expert on Christian history and liturgical practices. Dr. Carter, thanks for joining us.
**Dr. Carter:** It’s a pleasure to be here.
**Host:** Let’s start with the basics. You call Advent a time of “spiritual preparation,” but for the average person who might see it as just a countdown to Christmas presents and sugar-induced comas, can you explain what that means?
**Dr. Carter:** Absolutely. Advent is about more than just Christmas shopping and holiday feasts. It’s a period of reflection, repentance, and anticipation for the coming of Christ – both his historical birth and his anticipated second coming.
**Host:** So it’s not just about baby Jesus in a manger?
**Dr. Carter:** It’s deeper than that. Advent encourages us to examine our lives, prepare our hearts for the spiritual transformation that Christ’s coming represents, and confront the realities of our own mortality alongside the hope of judgment and eventual salvation.
**Host:** Wow, that’s a lot to unpack. Our article mentions four Sundays with different meanings. Can you elaborate on those?
**Dr. Carter:** Each Sunday symbolizes a different “coming” of Christ:
* **First Sunday:** Focuses on his incarnation, his birth in the flesh.
* **Second Sunday:** Represents Christ’s coming through grace, guiding us through our lives and revealing himself through acts of kindness and love.
* **Third Sunday:** ”Gaudete Sunday” – the pink candle! This Sunday celebrates the joyful anticipation of Christ’s coming, even in the midst of our own struggles.
* **Fourth Sunday:** Reflects on Christ’s coming at the end of time, when all will be judged and his kingdom fully established.
**Host:** That’s fascinating and a bit intense, especially the judgment part.
**Dr. Carter:** It can be overwhelming. Saying that Advent challenges us to confront deeper questions about our faith and ourselves is no understatement.
**Host:** Now, our article mentioned some pretty…unusual traditions associated with Advent. Barricading doors against witches, pulling threads from bells, even sacrificing pigs? Is there any truth to these claims?
**Dr. Carter: **Some of those traditions, while potentially rooted in pre-Christian beliefs and anxieties about wintertime, have faded or transformed throughout history. For example, the Advent wreath, though symbolizing the light of Christ, may have older pagan elements linked to winter solstice celebrations.
**Host:** So,
is Advent a weird hodgepodge of religious and pagan traditions, as our article suggests?
**Dr. Carter:** It’s certainly a blend. Like many religious holidays, Advent has evolved over centuries, incorporating elements from different cultures and eras.
**Host:** Dr. Carter, thank you for shedding light on the complexities and often controversial aspects of Advent.
**Dr. Carter:** It’s always a pleasure to engage in these conversations.
