When is Advent?
Advent begins on Advent Sunday, the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which falls somewhere between 27 November and 3 December. It runs until Christmas Eve. In the church calendar it also marks the start of a new year: the readings, colours and hymns all begin again from this point. The traditional liturgical colour is purple, the colour of preparation and penitence, which is why you will see purple hangings and vestments in Anglican and Catholic churches through December.
A season of double waiting
Advent looks in two directions at once. It remembers the centuries in which Israel waited for the promised Messiah, retelling the words of the prophets and the story of John the Baptist. And it looks forward to the return of Christ at the end of history, which is why the classic Advent readings are as much about being ready and keeping watch as they are about Bethlehem. The old themes for the four Sundays, still used in many parishes, are death, judgement, heaven and hell, softened in modern use to hope, peace, joy and love.
That double focus gives Advent its distinctive mood. It is festive but restrained, joyful but hushed, a deliberate contrast with the full blaze of Christmas. Traditionally, churches hold back the great Christmas carols until Christmas itself and sing Advent hymns instead: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”, “Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending”, “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus”.
Advent customs you will meet in the UK
- The Advent wreath. A ring of greenery with four candles, one lit on each Sunday of Advent, and often a fifth white candle lit on Christmas Day. Most parish churches light theirs during the Sunday service, often with a family from the congregation reading a short prayer.
- Advent calendars. A German custom that Britain has taken to heart. Behind the chocolate versions lies a simple spiritual practice: marking each day of the wait.
- Carol services. December is the busiest month of the church year. The service of Nine Lessons and Carols, made famous by King's College, Cambridge and broadcast every Christmas Eve, traces the whole biblical story from the fall to the manger through readings and carols. Thousands of churches across the country hold their own version, and it is one of the easiest services for a newcomer to slip into.
- Christingle services. An orange, a red ribbon, sweets on cocktail sticks and a candle: Christingles came to Britain through The Children's Society in the 1960s and are now a fixture of Advent for families, usually raising money for children's charities.
- Posada and Advent courses. Some parishes pass a crib figure of Mary and Joseph from home to home through December, and many churches run short evening courses or daily reflections for the season.
Is Advent a fast?
Historically, yes. Advent was once kept rather like Lent, as a season of fasting and self-examination, and the Orthodox churches still keep a Nativity Fast of forty days. In the West the fasting has largely fallen away, but the instinct survives: many Christians use Advent to simplify, to give to charity, to take up a daily Bible reading pattern, or simply to resist the rush and keep a little silence before the feast. In a culture where Christmas begins in the shops in October, keeping Advent is quietly countercultural.
Experiencing Advent for yourself
If you have never been inside a church, or not for years, Advent is arguably the best month of the year to change that. Carol services expect visitors and require nothing of you beyond singing tunes you already half know. A candlelit Advent carol service at the start of December, an evening Christingle with children, or a said midweek Communion in a quiet, dark church all show different faces of the same season.
Every church listed on this site holds some kind of Advent and Christmas programme, and December service times are usually posted on church noticeboards and websites from mid-November. Use our church finder to see what is happening near you, arrive a few minutes early, and let the season do the rest.