# Advent Sunday > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Advent_Sunday > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Advent_Sunday.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent_Sunday > Source revision: 1324405626 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|First day of liturgical year and start of the season of Advent}}{{Infobox holiday |holiday_name = Advent Sunday |type = Christian |image = Unionskirche, Idstein, Advent wreath on top of baptismal font.jpg |caption = An [Advent wreath](/source/Advent_wreath) with the first candle lit |observedby = Western Christianity |date = Fourth Sunday before [Christmas Day](/source/Christmas) |celebrations = Season of Advent |observances = |relatedto = Christmas Day |frequency = annual |duration = }} '''Advent Sunday''', also called the '''First Sunday of Advent''' or '''First Advent Sunday''', is the first day of the [liturgical year](/source/liturgical_year) in the [Western Christian Churches](/source/Western_Christian_Churches) and the start of the Christian season of [Advent](/source/Advent);''[Oxford English Dictionary](/source/Oxford_English_Dictionary)''. Second edition, 1989. "Advent Sunday, the first Sunday in Advent, the Sunday nearest to the thirtieth of November." a time of preparation for the celebration of [Christ's birth](/source/Nativity_of_Christ) at [Christmas](/source/Christmas) and the return of [Christ](/source/Jesus_in_Christianity) at the [Second Coming](/source/Second_Coming). ==Observance== [[File:Ad.te.levavi.png|thumb|''Ad te levavi animam meam'' ("Unto thee lift I up my soul"), beginning of the [introit](/source/introit) of the First Sunday of Advent]] On the First Sunday of Advent, Christians start lighting the candles of their [Advent wreath](/source/Advent_wreath)s, and praying their Advent [daily devotional](/source/daily_devotional). The faithful may also erect a [Chrismon tree](/source/Chrismon_tree) or light a [Christingle](/source/Christingle).{{cite book|last1=Geddes|first1=Gordon|last2=Griffiths|first2=Jane|title=Christianity|year=2001|publisher=Heinemann|isbn=978-0-435-30695-3|page=99|quote=Many churches hold Christingle services during Advent. Children are given a Christingle.}} They may also prepare for Christmas in other ways, such as setting up [Christmas decoration](/source/Christmas_decoration)s,{{cite book|title=[The Lutheran Witness](/source/The_Lutheran_Witness)|publisher=[Concordia Publishing House](/source/Concordia_Publishing_House)|year=1961|volume=80}}{{cite book|last=Michelin|title=Germany Green Guide Michelin 2012–2013|quote=Advent – The four weeks before Christmas are celebrated by counting down the days with an advent calendar, hanging up Christmas decorations and lightning an additional candle every Sunday on the four-candle advent wreath.|date=10 October 2012|publisher=Michelin |isbn=9782067182110|page=73}}{{cite book|title=Modern Christmas|last=Normark|first=Helena|year=1997|publisher=Graphic Garden|quote=Christmas in Sweden starts with Advent, which is the await for the arrival of Jesus. The symbol for it is the Advent candlestick with four candles in it, and we light one more candle for each of the four Sundays before Christmas. Most people start putting up the Christmas decorations on the first of Advent.}} a custom that is sometimes done liturgically through a [hanging of the greens](/source/hanging_of_the_greens) ceremony.{{cite book|last1=Kennedy|first1=Rodney Wallace|last2=Hatch|first2=Derek C|title=Baptists at Work in Worship|date=27 August 2013|publisher=[Wipf and Stock Publishers](/source/Wipf_and_Stock_Publishers)|isbn=978-1-62189-843-6|page=147|quote=There are a variety or worship practices that enable a congregation to celebrate Advent: lighting an advent wreath, a hanging of the greens service, a Chrismon tree, and an Advent devotional booklet.}}{{cite book|last1=Rice|first1=Howard L.|last2=Huffstutler|first2=James C.|title=Reformed Worship|date=1 January 2001|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=978-0-664-50147-1|page=197|quote=Another popular activity is the "Hanging of the Greens," a service in which the sanctuary is decorated for Christmas.}} ===Denominational differences=== In [Lutheran](/source/Lutheranism), [Anglican](/source/Anglicanism), and [Methodist](/source/Methodism) churches the celebrant wears violet-coloured or blue [vestment](/source/vestment)s on this day, and the first violet or blue [Advent candle](/source/Advent_wreath) is lit in the worship service. In the [Church of Sweden](/source/Church_of_Sweden), a Lutheran [national Church](/source/national_Church), the [liturgical colour](/source/Liturgical_colours) is specifically white: the motivation is that the day is a joyful feast (the colour is changed to blue, the traditional colour for Advent in Scandinavia, or—if the church does not possess blue vestments—violet, after 6 p.m.). {{bibleverse|Zechariah|9:9–10}} and {{bibleverse|Matthew|21:1–9}} are always read in the service, and the symbolism of the day is that Christ enters the church. Likewise, in the [Roman Rite](/source/Roman_Rite) of the [Catholic Church](/source/Catholic_Church), Advent also "begins with First Vespers (Evening Prayer I) of the Sunday that falls on or closest to 30 November and it ends before First Vespers (Evening Prayer I) of Christmas".{{cite book|last1=Addis|first1=William E.|last2=Press|first2=Aeterna|title=A Catholic Dictionary|year=1961|publisher=Aeterna Press|page=33|quote=ADVENT, SEASON OF. The period, of between three and four weeks from Advent Sunday (which is always the Sunday nearest to the fest of St. Andrew) to Christmas eve, is named by the Church the season of Advent.}}[http://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Calendar/Info/GNLY.pdf Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year, 40–41] The colour violet or purple is used in Advent, but where it is the practice the colour rose may be used on [Gaudete Sunday](/source/Gaudete_Sunday) (Third Sunday of Advent).[http://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/GIRM/Documents/GIRM.pdf General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 346] ==Date== Advent Sunday is the fourth Sunday before [Christmas Day](/source/Christmas), whether celebrated according to the [Gregorian](/source/Gregorian_calendar) or [Julian calendar](/source/Julian_calendar). It can fall on any date between 27 November and 3 December. When Christmas Day is a Monday, Advent Sunday will fall on its latest possible date. For most Christians, Advent Sunday is the Sunday nearest to [St. Andrew's Day](/source/St._Andrew's_Day), 30 November. It is possible to compute the date of Advent Sunday by adding three days to the date of the last Thursday of November; it can also be computed as the Sunday before the first Thursday of December. In the [Ambrosian Rite](/source/Ambrosian_Rite) and the [Mozarabic Rite](/source/Mozarabic_Rite), the First Sunday in Advent comes two weeks earlier than in the Roman, being on the Sunday after [St. Martin's Day](/source/St._Martin's_Day) (11 November), six weeks before Christmas.[https://books.google.com/books?id=hfVdAAAAQBAJ&dq=Ambrosian+Advent&pg=PP42 Philip H. Pfatteicher, ''Journey into the Heart of God''] (Oxford University Press 2013 {{ISBN|978-0-19999714-5}}) ==See also== {{wiktionary}} * [Stir-up Sunday](/source/Stir-up_Sunday) ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Advent}} {{Liturgical year of the Catholic Church}} Sunday Category:Christian Sunday observances Category:November observances Category:December observances --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Advent Sunday](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent_Sunday) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent_Sunday?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.