Advent

Hanley-Gueno Neapolitan Presepio from A Louisiana Christmas

November 27, the fourth Sunday before Christmas, is the day Advent begins, and it continues until Christmas Eve. Advent is the season celebrated by many Christian churches as a time to prepare for the coming of Christ. Advent season is filled with many Christmas traditions, now often known more broadly as holiday traditions, dating back hundreds of years. Three widely spread traditions with historic origins are carols, trees, and cards. The first known Christmas carol dates to the fifteenth century. Many carols were loosely based on the Christmas story and were sung in homes, rather than in churches. Traveling minstrels also sang them. When the Puritans came into power in England in the seventeenth century, carols were banned, but the English people remembered them, sang them in secret, and brought them to America. The carols came back into popularity during the long reign of Queen Victoria, whose German husband also helped popularize the German tradition of a Christmas tree. Martin Luther, who began the Protestant Reformation in Germany in 1517, is credited with beginning the tradition of lighting the tree. The tradition was not common in America until the late nineteenth century. Now there are many modern twists on lighting the tree. The first commercially produced Christmas cards were made in the UK in 1843. Queen Victoria began sending cards in the 1840s. By the late nineteenth century, the custom had spread across Europe and to America. Mass production of cards became popular in the twentieth century, and over two billion cards are sent in the United States each year. Today many people also send personalized cards or e-cards.

Advent is a time to focus on hope, love, joy, and peace. To celebrate today, we can all work toward, in the words of the carol, “peace on earth, goodwill to men.”

Old Irish Blessing: May you be blessed with the spirit of the season, which is peace; the gladness of the season, which is hope; and the heart of the season, which is love.

~N