To share with family and friends. Adapted by Father James DiLuzio CSP from the book WINTER –Celebrating the Season in a Christian Home Liturgy Training Publications, ã1996 Archdiocese of Chicago
The story of the Advent Wreath began long, long ago. In a time before the invention of electricity; in a time before people had cars. In those days, in the lands of northern Europe, most families travelled in horse drawn carts or carriages on mostly dirt roads.
As winter’s chill covered the earth, the roads were often rutted with ice and frozen mud. The wooden wheels on people’s carts would slide on the ice or get stuck in wet and icy muck. People had to stay at home. With no opportunity for extended travel, people seized the time they had to care for their wagon wheels. Wagon wheels usually dried and cracked from changing weather throughout the year, so families brought the wheels inside their houses to treat them with oils. Once the wheels were well-greased, where do you think families would have stored them? They tied cords of heavy rope through the spokes and hung their wheels from their ceilings!
Once the Church declared a Season of Advent – a time of prayer and preparation for the celebration of Jesus’ Birth, Christians looked for a way to mark the days leading up to Christmas in their homes. On the first of four Sundays before the Nativity, families lowered one of their wagon wheels from the ceiling to suspend it–at just the right height for fathers and mothers, sisters, and brothers, to decorate it with evergreen branches and pinecones. In addition, they nestled four large candles in the greens along the wheel rims—one candle for each week of Advent. The four candles were made to match the Church colors in the vestments that the priests wore (and still wear)—the same colors as the altar cloths decorating the parish altars. The first two weeks offer purple as a sign of penance and renewal, the third week pink, and the fourth returns to purple. Why pink on week three? Because we are getting closer to the day Jesus the Christ, “The Christmas Rose” bloomed on earth for humanity to grow in faith, hope, and love. We mustn’t lose hope!
Today, Christian people everywhere continue the tradition of the Advent Wreath. Perhaps you and your family have one. If not, you can make one at home. You can use fresh evergreens and real wax candles, or electric candles, or make your own evergreens with green tissue paper on branches of thin, brown, cardboard paper. For candles, roll up sections of purple and pink cardboard thick enough to stand tall on their own, and top them with bright, yellow paper flames!
On the first Sunday of Advent, light one purple candle and continue to light it on each night that follows. As you gather around the wreath to pray, sing an Advent song to remind you that God became a human being just like us, so we never have to feel alone. On the Second Sunday of Advent, light both the first and a second candle and do this for each night of prayer until the Third Sunday when we light two purple and now a pink candle for each night of the third week of Advent. On Fourth Sunday and every day that follows, including Christmas Eve, light all four candles and sing your first Christmas Carol of the
Season. As you sing, light one white or golden candle and place it in the center of the Advent wreath to celebrate Christ with Us as the Light of the World.
Prayer to Bless the Advent Wreath
God of goodness,
Bless our Advent wreath.
May its circle remind us of your infinite love
and inspire us to live as one human family.
May its evergreen branches be a sign of hope
that calls us to share with people who need it most.
May its candles illuminate peace in our hearts
and guide our hands to touch the world with compassion.
May we receive the joy of your word
and bring it to life in all corners of the earth.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
How to Make Your Own Advent Wreath out of Cardboard or Construction and Tissue Paper
To make your own Advent Wreath, you will need
- Green Tissue paper cut in strips to tie around a wire coat hanger to form a wreath.
- Three pages of purple cardboard or construction paper;
- One pink cardboard or construction paper page.
- One white cardboard or construction paper.
- One each yellow and orange cardboard or colored construction paper.
- Adhesive tape.
- Roll, tape, and stand the purple and pink papers as “candles” and place them equally spaced along the outside of your wreath.
- Roll and tape the white page as your Christmas Candle and place it in the center of the wreath.
- Add more green tissue paper “leaves’ at the bottom of each candle.
- Cut out flame shapes from the yellow paper to be taped to form a three-dimensional flame large enough to be taped to the top of each candle. Add the smaller orange flame shape to tape to the center of each yellow flame.
- Tape one three-dimensional Yellow-Orange flame on one purple “candle” on the First Sunday of Advent.
- Add a flame to a second purple candle on the Second Sunday of Advent; a flame on a pink candle for the Third Sunday of Advent, and a flame on the fourth purple cancel on the Fourth Sunday.
- Add a flame to the white Christ candle on Christmas morning.
frjamesdiluzio 