Advent is a series of days that lead up to the Christmas holiday. The Advent calendar consists of the 24 days prior to Christmas. The term "advent" comes from the Latin word "adventus" which means "coming." This holiday period signifies the coming of Christ.
The most common form of preparation for Advent is the advent calendar. Created a wide variety of different ways, this device is used to track the progress of the days that make up the advent season.
Advent candles are the most popular way that is used to track the days in the calendar. Since Advent has 24 days, the calendar has 24 candles. The family celebrating the holiday gathers together and lights one of the candles each day of the advent season.
Advent calendars come in all shapes and sizes. They also come in a wide variety of formats and designs. One common design of an Advent calendar is in the form of a Christmas tree. This design has 24 candles attached to branches that make up the tree and are lit each day.
Another advent calendar design is a candy holder calendar. The candy holder calendar includes 24 pockets that are filled with candy. As each day arrives in the holiday season, someone, usually a child, takes the candy out of the holder and eats it.
An advent wreath is another device that is used to prepare for and track the Advent holiday season. An advent wreath has 4 candles, unlike the calendar, which uses 24 candles. This is because the advent wreath tracks and celebrates the weeks of advent as oppose to the days.
In preparing and celebrating the advent holiday days and weeks, celebrants engage in a wide variety of activities. From a religious standpoint, this is a time period where there is much prayer and even fasting in some cases. Priests and Pastors tailor their teachings and sermons to focus on the coming of Christ and what the Christmas holiday is all about. Some worshipers may even decide to sacrifice certain activities such as watching television, listening to certain types of music, etc.
At home, there are a number of Advent activities that can be conducted together as a family. For example, some families have their kids gather together and actually create their own advent calendar or wreath to celebrate the holiday season. Other families have their kids color in special advent themed coloring books that commemorate the holiday season.
Advent is a special time for millions of families all across the world. The decision for how you and your family prepare for it is a personal one. If you need ideas and suggestions, what we have provided here will help give you some ideas as well as help prompt you to come up with your own ideas as to how to celebrate this significant holiday season.
Kerry Beck gives free advent calendars with daily Christmas activities to prepare you for Christmas. you will learn alot about Christmas history with some of her activities. |
