The Advent Wreath

The Advent wreath, which hangs at the front of the church with its five candles, symbolizes the coming of Christ. Sample texts that can accompany the lighting of the candles are printed ealier in this chapter. In the past two decades, the ancient custom of the Advent wreath has enjoyed an immense recovery throughout the world as a symbol that does for Advent what the manger scene and the Christmas tree do for Christmas. While the specific origins of the Advent wreath are not known, we do know that it began centuries ago in what is now eastern Germany and was then associated with the Yule tradition of burning lights. By the sixteenth century these lights became Advent symbols in Christian homes. From that tradition, the custom of a different candle to represent each of the four weeks of Advent developed. Originally, the Advent wreath was a wreath of evergreens placed in a circle containing four candles. Each Sunday a different candle was lighted until all four candles shed their l…