Notes on Background of Advent

    Advent poses a huge cultural difficulty for us. We did not adequately explain the shift to adopting the Roman Catholic church year. It feels imposed, even after 50 years of older churches moving toward the 3 year cycle of readings and liturgical convergence. Of course, the main stumbling block is that Christmas ornaments start appearing now in early November. Commercial establishments often stop Christmas material on the 26th of December, just when the Christmas season, the traditional 12 days of Christmas, starts. Hallmark movies already have been showing Christmas-themed treacle. Folks do not accept that the calendar of church does not match the cultural calendar. We may not sing carols until people are sick of hearing them in the stores and radio.

If we do try to celebrate Advent, we have utter chaos. When Protestants get their hands on traditional worship, anything goes.  The meaning of the candles seems to be whatever is decided that they should be, and we have the gall to announce that it is the way it should be. The readings for the first week usually include the doom of the cosmos, always a surefire way to get in the mood for Christmas.

It is possible that Advent was being established by the late 300s. Being now licit with the Empire, the baptismamal day of Easter may have grown crowded , so Epiphany offered another date. Before Christmas, Advent offered a period of preparation for catechumens similar to Lenten observance.

Perpetuus of Tours (461–490) established a fast before Christmas that began on November 11 (St. Martin’s Day), and the Council of Tours (567) mentioned an Advent season. The Middle 

Ages saw shift toward abstinence recent shift to blue as/ repentance

Advent may have lasted  6-7 weeks but was shortened in the West to 4 a by 1200s.

We have some special advent sermons from fairly early dates. Please note that Advent usually continues the end of the church year on matters escatalogical. They look toward the Second Advent, the consummation of God's vision for creation.The old gives birth to the new. The third sunday was Gaudete sunday, and it shifted toward expectations of Christmas. It had a rose candle to makr the shift of the readings toward Christmas.

Lutherans may have started advent wreaths but it seems to perhaps date only to the 19th century in Germany.Advent calendars may date from the end of that century or early in the 20th century, again in Germany.

The Sarum Rite (110s Salisbury) was the original basis for the liturgy of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and where blue was used for the color of Advent.  It was often specified that it be an indigo to represent the darkness before the birth.  Shades of blue symbolize royalty, the coming of the King, hope, the night sky before the dawn, the sea before creation, and Mary.  I suspect that we moved to blue as the baby boom generation does not wish to hear words such as repentance.