Advent

Advent is a season observed in most <a href="/facts/Christian_denomination/rRQgoQd8">Christian denominations</a> as a time of waiting and preparation for both the celebration of <a href="/facts/Nativity_of_Christ/LlgLcFVz">Jesus's birth</a> at <a href="/facts/Christmas/EsuI0Gds">Christmas</a> and the return of <a href="/facts/Jesus_in_Christianity/bQ8eyYNT">Christ</a> at the <a href="/facts/Second_Coming/cmswsDwm">Second Coming</a>. It begins on the <a href="/facts/Advent_Sunday/fopP3ssD">fourth Sunday</a> before Christmas, often referred to as Advent Sunday. Advent is the beginning of the <a href="/facts/Liturgical_year/jAWrf1uF">liturgical year</a> in <a href="/facts/Western_Christianity/9YP8vhKs">Western Christianity</a>. The name comes from Latin adventus ('coming; arrival'), translating the <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek/LIK7NlUh">Greek</a> <a href="/facts/Parousia/H4KUWWTL">parousia</a> from the <a href="/facts/New_Testament/k066sDIn">New Testament</a>, originally referring to the <a href="/facts/Second_Coming/cmswsDwm">Second Coming</a>.
The season of Advent in the Christian calendar anticipates the "coming of Christ" from three different perspectives: the physical nativity in <a href="/facts/Bethlehem/2X2sxNCr">Bethlehem</a>, the reception of Christ in the heart of the believer, and the <a href="/facts/Christian_eschatology/gpdnuTVS">eschatological</a> Second Coming.
Practices associated with Advent include <a href="/facts/Advent_calendar/7noYeP87">Advent calendars</a>, lighting an <a href="/facts/Advent_wreath/ReFP0G1e">Advent wreath</a>, praying an Advent <a href="/facts/Daily_devotional/V6VoMuH2">daily devotional</a>, erecting a <a href="/facts/Chrismon_tree/r8uNSbjs">Chrismon tree</a>, lighting a <a href="/facts/Christingle/NMBRnMl9">Christingle</a>, as well as other ways of preparing for Christmas, such as setting up <a href="/facts/Christmas_decoration/QceCL5Gc">Christmas decorations</a>, a custom that is sometimes done liturgically through a <a href="/facts/Hanging_of_the_greens/aqsIyavS">hanging of the greens</a> ceremony.
The analogue of Advent in <a href="/facts/Eastern_Christianity/ks2ztPhI">Eastern Christianity</a> is called the <a href="/facts/Nativity_Fast/GtufpMLG">Nativity Fast</a>, but it differs in meaning, length, and observances, and does not begin the liturgical church year as it does in the West. The Eastern Nativity Fast does not use the term parousia in its preparatory services.

Advent open-in-new

Advent