The History of Advent

Hi all, Winnie Griggs here. We’ve been focusing on the Advent Season here at Seekerville and it got me to wondering, just how did this annual observance come about. So I did a little online research and the results surprised me.
Most scholars believe Advent dates back to the fourth century.  But originally it had nothing to do with Christmas.  Instead it was a time set aside for converts to Christianity to reflect and prepare themselves for baptism.

A couple of hundred years later, around the turn of the sixth century, Advent became associated with the coming of Christ, but rather than focusing on the past - His birth in Bethlehem - it was rather an anticipation of the future - His still-awaited-for second coming. Today, many liturgies balance these two elements of Christ’s coming, remembrance and anticipation. They focus the first two Sundays on looking forward to His second coming, and take the last two Sundays to look back and remember the Holy Night when he first came to us as a babe.



The origin of the Advent wreath is equally as fascinating. The modern day Advent wreath was first developed by a German Protestant pastor in 1839. Johann Hinrich Wichern worked with children at a mission school. During the Christmas season, the children would constantly ask if Christmas Day had arrived. Looking for a way to give the children a visual way to mark the days, he took an old wagon wheel and attached 24 candles to it – 20 small red ones and 4 large white ones. Each weekday and Saturday a small red one was lit successively and on Sundays one of the large white ones was lit. The practice grew in popularity among German congregations and eventually evolved into the smaller 4 or 5 candle wreaths in use today.

So there you have it - a short summary of what I learned during my research. Was any of it new to you? Do you have any traditions you and your family observe during the Advent Season? Are there other bits of history or lore you'd like to share?

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