2025.12.12
Advent Season
Do you know advent? Probably you have heard of advent calendars. Maybe you have one in your own house. Each day in December, until Christmas day, people open one day in the calendar. Usually you can see a picture when you do this; sometimes you can even get a chocolate or a candy. Here at Eiwa each classroom has an advent calendar and the students take turns opening it. In Canada, when I was a child, we always enjoyed having an advent calendar and looked forward to the new picture (or chocolate!) every day.
But what is advent? Advent is the four weeks before Christmas. To be exact, it starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, so sometime between November 27 and December 3. These are the four weeks before Jesus was born, so they mark the beginning of the Christian calendar. Because of this, advent has the meaning of ‘beginning.’ We sometimes use it to talk about the beginning of something new, for example ‘the advent of the twenty-first century’ or ‘the advent of the computer age.’
If you go to church, you may also know advent candles. At Eiwa we set up advent candles in the chapel every year. As you can see, there are four red candles on the outside with a white one in the middle. Purple candles are also popular. At most churches in Canada, a new candle is lit each Sunday in Advent. The first candle symbolizes hope, the second peace, the third joy, and the fourth love. The final candle in the middle is lit on Christmas day for Jesus’s birth.
If you go to church, you may also know advent candles. At Eiwa we set up advent candles in the chapel every year. As you can see, there are four red candles on the outside with a white one in the middle. Purple candles are also popular. At most churches in Canada, a new candle is lit each Sunday in Advent. The first candle symbolizes hope, the second peace, the third joy, and the fourth love. The final candle in the middle is lit on Christmas day for Jesus’s birth.
These themes – hope, peace, joy and love – are central to all of our lives. Each week at church services during Advent, the talk usually focuses on those ideas. How can we feel hope when life is difficult? What is peace and how can we achieve it? How can we find lasting joy in our lives? What does love mean to us? We may not find the answers to these questions, but just thinking about them is important. I wish all of you the best over the Advent season, and hope that you will find some time to think about the meaning of hope, peace, joy and love in your lives during this month.
