Editing Advent (section)

== Advent wreath ==
{{See also|Advent wreath}}
[[File:Adventwreath.jpg|thumb|An Advent wreath with three blue candles and one rose candle surrounding the central Christ Candle]]
[[File:Kaufbeuren Adventskranz.jpg|thumb|A giant Advent wreath in [[Kaufbeuren]], [[Bavaria]], Germany]]

The keeping of an Advent wreath is a common practice in homes or churches.<ref>{{cite web |title=Préparer une couronne de l'Avent |department=Couronnes de l'Avent |lang=fr |trans-title=How to prepare an Advent Wreath |date=23 October 2017 |url=http://www.teteamodeler.com/dossier/noel/couronne-avent.asp |access-date=29 October 2017}}</ref> The concept of the Advent wreath originated among German Lutherans in the 16th century.<ref name=Colbert1996>{{cite book |last=Colbert |first=Teddy |year=1996 |title=The Living Wreath |publisher=Gibbs Smith |isbn=978-0-87905-700-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/livingwreath0000colb |url-access=registration |quote=It is believed that the European advent wreath began as a Lutheran innovation in the sixteenth century.}}</ref> However, it was not until three centuries later that the modern Advent wreath took shape.{{efn|The first clear association with Advent is generally attributed to German Lutherans in the 16th century. However, another three centuries would pass before the modern Advent wreath took shape. Specifically, a German theologian and educator by the name of Johann Hinrich Wichern (1808–1881) is credited with the idea of lighting an increasing number of candles as Christmas approached.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mosteller |first=Angie |year= 2010 |title=Christmas: Celebrating the Christian history of classic symbols, songs, and stories |publisher=Holiday Classics Publishing |isbn=978-0-9845649-0-3 |page=167}}</ref>}}

The modern Advent wreath, with its candles representing the Sundays of Advent, originated from an 1839 initiative by [[Johann Hinrich Wichern]], a Protestant pastor in Germany and a pioneer in urban mission work among the poor. To deal with the impatience of the children awaiting Christmas, whom he was teaching, Wichern made a ring of wood, with 19 small red tapers and four large white candles. Every morning a small candle was lit, and every Sunday a large candle. Modern practice only retains the large candles.<ref name=Wichern-2008-01-05>{{cite web |title=Johann Hinrich Wichern – der Erfinder des Adventskranzes |lang=de |trans-title=Johann Hinrich Wichern – the inventor of the Advent wreath  |date=5 January 2008 |website=medienwerkstatt-online.de |url=http://www.medienwerkstatt-online.de/lws_wissen/vorlagen/showcard.php?id=4506 |access-date=11 December 2017}}</ref>

The wreath crown is traditionally made of [[fir]] tree branches knotted with a red ribbon and decorated with pine cones, holly, laurel, and sometimes mistletoe. It is also an ancient symbol signifying several things; first of all, the crown symbolises victory, in addition to its round form evoking the sun and its return each year. The number four represents the four Sundays of Advent, and the green twigs are a sign of life and hope.

The fir tree is a symbol of strength and laurel a symbol of victory over sin and suffering. The latter two, with the holly, do not lose their leaves, and thus represent the eternity of God. The flames of candles are the representation of the Christmas light approaching and bringing hope and peace, as well as the symbol of the struggle against darkness. For Christians, this crown is also the symbol of [[Christ the King]], the holly recalling the crown of thorns resting on the head of Christ.

The Advent wreath is adorned with candles, usually three violet or purple and one pink; the pink candle is lit on the Third Sunday of Advent, called "[[Gaudete Sunday]]" after the opening word, {{lang|la|Gaudete}}, meaning 'Rejoice', of the entrance antiphon at [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]]. Some add a fifth candle (white), known as the "Christ candle", in the middle of the wreath, to be lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.<ref name=FJ />

The candles symbolize, in one interpretation, the great stages of salvation before the coming of the Messiah; the first is the symbol of the forgiveness granted to Adam and Eve, the second is the symbol of the faith of [[Abraham]] and of the patriarchs who believe in the gift of the [[Promised Land]], the third is the symbol of the joy of David whose lineage does not stop and also testifies to his covenant with God, and the fourth and last candle is the symbol of the teaching of the prophets who announce a reign of justice and peace. Alternatively, they symbolize the four stages of human history; creation, the Incarnation, the redemption of sins, and the [[Last Judgment]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Božić u Hrvata |lang=hr |trans-title=Christmas in Croatia |website=hic.hr |url=http://www.hic.hr/bozic-hrvata01.htm  |access-date=29 October 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206104658/http://www.hic.hr/bozic-hrvata01.htm |archive-date=6 December 2013 }}</ref>

In Orthodox churches there are sometimes wreaths with six candles, in line with the six-week duration of the Nativity Fast/Advent.

In Sweden, white candles, symbol of festivity and purity, are used in celebrating [[Saint Lucy's Day]], 13 December, which always falls within Advent.