Christmas Season ~ Day 1

The Concept of Advent

This is a Catholic thing: To anticipate Christmas, you have the season of Advent.
 

This is an Advent Wreath. I remember making one just like this for one of our Girl scout activities.

I love the Christmas Season although I sometimes complain about all the work that needs to be done.
I have decided to post everyday in December on this blog.
I will make note of a special Christmas song (carol) I like in each post.

So for Day 1...the Christmas carol is...O COME O COME EMMANUEL !

This is the song we sang in school (elementary and high school) every day in Advent.
Advent is the 4 week or so period before Christmas Day. November 29, 2009 was the First Sunday of Advent for the Catholics this year.

When we were in school, we always had an Advent Wreath ( a circular wreath of pine boughs that is set on a table with 4 long tapers....3 purple and one pink set equidistant from each other in the wreath)in the classroom. In high school, there was an Advent Wreath on a special table in the foyer of the school. Every morning in the first week of Advent, a candle from the wreath was lit. Then everyone sang O Come O Come Emmanuel and then after the song, the candle was blown out. It was like a morning devotional...to start the day. We did this every day during Advent.

On the week following the second Sunday of Advent, 2 candles are lit every day in the morning devotional. Why the pink candle? That is for the 3rd Sunday of Advent and the week following.

The 3rd Sunday of advent was called

Gaudete Sunday.

Why is it called this?

http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/f/Gaudete_Sunday.htm tells us why:

The Introit for Gaudete Sunday, in both the Traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo, is taken from Philippians 4:4,5: "Gaudete in Domino semper" ("Rejoice in the Lord always").
Like Lent, Advent is a penitential season, so the priest normally wears purple vestments. But on Gaudete Sunday, having passed the midpoint of Advent, the Church lightens the mood a little, and the priest may wear rose vestments. The change in color provides us with encouragement to continue our spiritual preparation—especially prayer and fasting—for Christmas.
For this same reason, the third candle of the Advent wreath, first lit on Gaudete Sunday, is traditionally rose-colored.
Gaudete Sunday has a counterpart in Lent: Laetare Sunday.

There you have it. Although I am a Latter Day Saint (Mormon) now, I still look fondly on some of the worship services of my former church, the Catholic Church.

On the side of this blog I will put links to the songs I pick each day.