Advent Fun Facts

• The Eastern Churches began celebrating Advent in the eighth century as a time of strict fasting and abstinence–a practice still common Eastern Orthodoxy. This practice also reflects the season’s similarity to Lent. Incidentally, red is the most common liturgical color for Advent in the Eastern churches.
• The third Sunday of Advent is technically called Gaudete Sunday and it is marked by rose vestments (don’t ask your priest why he’s wearing “pink”!) and hangings. Gaudete means rejoice because the third Sunday marks the over-half-way-point of Advent. This usage corresponds to the rose vestments used on Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent (also the over-half-way-point of Lent).
• The Advent wreath, found in many Catholic homes, is a rather modern invention. It derives to a 19th century German custom, apparently Lutheran in origin. The practice was soon adopted by Bavarian Catholics and spread all over the world.
• The liturgical season of Advent anticipates Second Advent (Coming) of Christ while also remembering the First Advent (Coming) of Christ at Christmas. Thus, the season generally celebrates the activity of God in history in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. Advent is the parenthesis in which falls all of Christian history.