What happened to Advent?
When is Advent
This won’t make any sense to non-Catholics, and quite a number of Catholics. Unlike what the secular world teaches, Christmas is preceded by the season of Advent. Rather than a season of feasting and shopping, Advent it a season of fasting and preparation. How can I say that when all around us we see feasting and shopping while so few are fasting and preparing? Well, that comes down to the history of Advent and how it has been lost.
What is Advent?
The word Advent is derived from the Latin Adventus, which means arrival, approach, coming (Conlin 2022). It is a season pf preparation for the coming of the Christmas day feast and the season of Christmas, a season that comes AFTER Advent. Advent also marks the beginning of the Liturgical year. The season of Advent has historically been filled with fasting and penance unlike the secular version of feasting and indulging.
Advent is a season of preparing our hearts for the coming of Our Lord. There are three comings of Our Lord which we are preparing. The first, is Christmas Day when Jesus was born in Bethlehem while the world was unprepared, the second is the Second Coming of Christ, for which we desire to be prepared, and the third is the coming of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist every single day.
When did the faithful observe the season of Advent?
Advent become popularized in 480AD when St Perpetuus decreed that the faithful should fast three times a week from the feast of St. Martin (November 11th) until Christmas. This period was called St. Martin’s Lent and lasted 43 days, mirroring Lent before Easter, though less strict and severe (The History of Advent).
Why is Saint Martin’s feast day connected to the first coming of Christ?
Without diving deep into the amazing story of Saint Martin, it is primarily because his feast day, November 11, became a big deal in the Middle Ages, as the great Fall feast coming at the time of the harvest, processing of animals, and enjoying the new wine (Staudt 2019). It is also 40 days before Christmas day, just like Lent begins 40 days before Easter, so it became a great day to feast right before a fast to prepare for the feast of Christmas.
But Advent is not 40 days, it is 4 weeks, when did that change?
The length of Advent began to be shortened as shown in a Letter of Pope St Nicholas I to the Bulgarians where he writes about the four weeks of Advent, as oppose to 40 days (The History of Advent). The start date is the Sunday closest to November 30th, the feast of Saint Andrew (Show 2024). This was considered an official length of the season of Advent for the universal Church in 1362 when Pope Urban V worked to revive the practice (Plese 2020).
What did the fasting originally look like?
The fast was observed by many of the faithful, but not always obligatory. In some countries it was a precept for everyone, in others it was simply a pious devotion that one may adopt. St Perpetuus originally commanded the fast to be three days a week in his diocese, which ended up becoming a rule throughout the Church of France during the Council of Macon from 581AD until the seventh century. The Council of prescribed that the fast should be observed every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of each week of Advent, beginning from November 11, St Martin’s Day, until Christmas day. Abstinence from flesh-meat every during Advent was part of this practice in France. This form of fasting was adopted and observed in other Catholic regions as pious devotion (Plese 2020).
Did the Advent fast ever become an obligation universally in the Catholic Church?
By the 1100s, the fast changed and was replaced by simple abstinence, as in, abstaining from flesh-meat or other foods. By the end of 12th century, any sort of obligation was nearly abolished with observation being a pious devotion without any obligation for the faithful to observe. So before the 40 day Advent fast could even become a universal obligation, most of the dioceses who did oblige it, rescinded it for all but certain clerics (Plese 2020). This is why Pope Urban V attempted to revive the practice of the Advent Fast in 1362.
Does anyone still recognize the Advent fast?
Byzantine Catholics still observe the fast, but they now begin on November 15, St. Philip’s feast day. They abstain from meat, animal products, dairy, oil, and alcohol every day in Advent with stricter fasting requirements on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays (Staudt 2019).
Although there is no obligation to practice this pious devotion within the Latin Rite, it is still a very fruitful practice to consider. One does not have to engage in it to the extent of the Byzantines, but even a Wednesday and Friday fast, and/or some sort of abstinence from sweets, meat, or certain activities such as TV, social media, dare I say…YouTube, can be a spiritually fruitful means to prepare for the season of Christmas. I know that may sound very challenging compared to the way the secular world “prepares” for Christmas, but Advent has primarily been a season of preparation filled with fasting and abstinence, not a season of feasting and shopping.
What is the spiritual preparation we are to cultivate through fasting and abstinence?
The Church notes that times of fasting, abstinence, and penance help us break free from the enslavement to food and other objects to help us “prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart” (CCC 2043).
By breaking free from food and other vices, we prepare by working towards freedom of heart. That freedom enables us to prepare our hearts to welcome our Lord when He comes. It is important to work towards this preparedness because so many were not prepared for His first coming on the first Christmas.
But this preparation is not penitential like during Lent. Instead, the season of Advent is filled with joyful hope. We are not waiting in terror, but we are waiting joyfully for the second coming of Our Lord, the end of the world. For seculars, the end of the world is the worst thing to them, but we are looking forward to the end of the world. Memento Mori after all!!
If you are concerned with the end of the world, then conversion can be found through reflecting on those concerns so you can break free from those chains and enter into joyful hope for the second coming of Jesus Christ. With that said, conversion will always be a continual process as we await His return. If we are prepared, we will be transformed like unto Christ upon the second coming, so that we may wait with joyful hope.
Advent is a time of waiting, conversion, and hope. Waiting is a time for preparation. Conversion is the conversion of ourselves to repent and prepare for the Lord. It is not just a waiting game but instead allows us to work to bring Christ to earth through our own conversion, by bringing Christ to others by offering ourselves for Christ to work in and through unto others. We need to empty ourselves of the world so Christ can fill us with Himself when He comes on Christmas Day, comes to judge the living and the dead, and comes to us each day in the Eucharist.
What if fasting is not an option for me?
While some of us may not have the appropriate health for fasting, we can look at other things we are attached to. There is always something. What can you give back to Christ? Your time. What do you spend your time on that you can give to Christ? We fill our days to the brim, but how much of it do we give to Christ? Surely there are many things we can remove to give time to Christ so He may enter our hearts. We can substitute TV for spiritual reading, social media for prayer time, YouTube for true quality time together, and excessive premature Christmas parties for volunteering somewhere.
By adopting these practices during Advent, we can end up cultivating wonderful spiritual fruit in our life. After the season of Advent, you may still retain a daily prayer life as well as spiritual reading and other activities that welcome Christ into your heart.
How does all this work with secular practices?
You are probably wondering, how does this all fit in with what we do in the secular world? How can we fast while people give us more cookies than ever before? How can we abstain when Christmas parties are everywhere? How can we devote more time to Jesus when everyone demands even more time from us? What about all the Christmas movies?!
Well, I have to ask you, is all that worth it?
A survey from September of this year, 2025, reports that half of Americans are dreading the holiday season due to financial stress. Lets look at the breakdown.
The survey included 2000 Americans, half of whom have seasonal jobs.
54% fear the holidays due to the financial requirements of the season
69% said the holiday season is the most financially stressful part of the year
Because of this, 58% said the stress and financial obligations take the joy out of the holidays
Here is where things begin to get very interesting
54% said they will be making sacrifices or cutting back
76% said they will be making changes to how they celebrate in order to save money
36% will using a strict budget for gifts
14% are doing a gift-free Christmas
21% will won’t be doing a big holiday meal
10% are planning to celebrate on a different day entirely to avoid high ticket prices and holiday upcharges (Haaland 2025).
What do all these numbers mean? People are still making sacrifices during the season of Advent. But what are they sacrificing for? Money.
“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matthew 6:24)
Who will you make sacrifices for? The god of money or the Triune God and the Son of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ?
What are some other Advent traditions?
As the survey says, people are tired of the secular season of Christmas. This is an opportunity to reclaim the season of Advent for the true meaning. How do we do that? There are other Advent traditions that can be incorporated into the season to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ. I have a list of 6 Advent traditions to suggest.
Advent Wreaths
Advent wreaths are a popular tradition, with quite interesting origins. The Advent wreath is shaped in a circle to symbolize eternity and formed from evergreens to represent immortal life because it always stays green. It is often laid flat or hung on a wall. There are four candles, three purple and one rose (pink). The candles can be lit each night as the season of Advent progresses. We light the first candle, representing Hope, with a flame, representing the light of Christ. Once we reach the second Sunday in Advent, we include the second candle, representing peace. The Third Sunday we add the third rose colored candle, representing joy, because we are joyous that we are halfway through Advent while joyfully waiting the coming of Christ. On the fourth Sunday we light the last purple candle, representing love. On Christmas Day, many of us also add a fifth candle, white, representing that Our Lord Jesus Christ has come.
The origins are not what one may think… The Advent wreath is attributed to 16th century Lutherans in Germany. It wasn’t until the 19th century when the Advent wreath took its shape after a German theologian and educator grew tired of the children asking how many days until Christmas. In 1839, he structured it with four white candles, to represent each Sunday in Advent, with six red candles between them for the other days. He would light a candle each day and teach the children about Jesus (History of the Advent Wreath 2008). Through time, the Advent wreath became adopted by Catholics into what we have today.
Advent Calendars
There are also Advent Calendars, which are not just about chocolate or small toys. The traditionally held belief for the origins of Advent calendars holds that a 19th century Munich housewife was tired of having to tell the children when Christmas would come, and so she created the Advent calendar. Munich is in Germany, meaning Advent Calendars so popular in Catholicism come from…Lutherans (Advent Calendar).
Straw in the manger
Another practice is placing straw in an empty small manger during the season of Advent. This is mainly directed towards kids encouraging them to do good deeds to place pieces of straw in the manger to prepare it for Jesus Christ, just like good deeds prepare our hearts to welcome Him. One source said this came from Lutherans as well, but I haven’t found anything concrete, so we will just ignore that.
Jesse Tree
The Jesse Tree is a fun activity for children and adults to journey through Bible history during the season of Advent. You can use a tree of sorts or be classy like my family and cut a branch off the spruce in your front yard and hang it on a wall. Each night during the season of Advent, we read a story about one of the ancestors of Jesus, starting with Adam and ending with the Blessed Virgin Mary, and then hang an ornament representing that person. There are also traditions to do this with Biblical events and other aspects of the Story of Salvation.
Saint Andrew Novena
The Saint Andrew Novena was traditionally prayed 15 times a day during the season of Advent. While we typically recite it once or twice a day in our household, it can be a great way to improve daily prayer life and spur devotion as we joyfully await the coming of Jesus Christ. The name of the Novena is derived from the fact that Advent’s start is centered around Saint Andrew’s feast day, November 30th. But even more so, the role of Andrew in the Gospels helps us prepare for the coming of Christ (Dohlen).
“Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born Of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother.
Amen”
O Antiphons
The O Antiphons originated in the 8th century and are traditionally sung from December 17th-23th as we shift our focus towards Christmas remembering the Nativity of Our Lord. These O Antiphons help us remember the ancient biblical imagery of the Messianic hopes from the Old Testament. The name is derived from all the antiphons beginning with “O”. They call to mind the various names and titles in messianic prophecies throughout the Old Testament (The “O Antiphons” of Advent). They can be found here.
Conclusion
I admit, some people will say I got a little carried away at one point. But hey, Jesus flipped tables.
The important thing is to not get exhausted with Christmas before the season of Christmas has come. At the end of the day, you know for yourself and your family what your capacity is to prepare for Christmas. Perhaps you already have a beautiful prayer life and want to add a bit more while still having capacity for other celebrations without getting exhausted. But it is okay to say no sometimes. If going to one more Christmas party, eating one more cookie, watching one more Christmas movie, just might exhaust you of the spirit of Advent and Christmas, it is perfectly acceptable to say no, and instead to welcome Christ into your heart.
You can always ask yourself, will you be ready for Christmas, for the coming of Christ? How will you be ready? Will the decorations and gifts be in your house or in your heart?
The First Coming was prophesied yet so many people failed to be prepared. We are warned to be prepared.
“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:34-36)
The season of Advent precedes Christmas, and unlike popular opinion, it is more than just calendars with chocolates. The season of Advent is an ancient tradition from the Catholic Church. Historically, Catholics have observed Advent as a season of preparation for the coming of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Over time, the tradition has been lost and replaced with the secular observance of an overwhelming and unfulfilling Christmas season.
How did the season of Advent start within the Catholic Church? What did it look like to prepare for Our Lord Jesus Christ? How do we prepare for Jesus Christ to come into our hearts in the modern world? There are many traditions that can be welcomed back into our lives so we may prepare ourselves to welcome Jesus Christ into the manger and into our hearts.
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Saint Andrew Novena – https://hallow.com/blog/how-to-pray-the-st-andrew-christmas-novena/
Jesse Tree book with ornaments – https://www.osvcatholicbookstore.com/the-jesse-tree-for-families.html
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References
n.d. “Advent Calendar.” Britannica. Accessed October 30, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Advent-calendar.
1995. Catechism of the Catholic Church. Canada: Doubleday.
Conlin, Fr. Rich. 2022. “what is ADVENT // in 3 minutes.” YouTube. Accessed October 30, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9WcSx1xCL8.
Dohlen, Cate Von. n.d. “How to Pray the St. Andrew Christmas Novena.” Hallow. Accessed October 30, 2025. https://hallow.com/blog/how-to-pray-the-st-andrew-christmas-novena/.
Haaland, Marie. 2025. “Why half of Americans are ‘dreading’ the holiday season, new survey shows.” New York Post. October 15. Accessed October 30, 2025. https://nypost.com/2025/10/15/lifestyle/survey-reveals-main-reason-why-many-dread-the-holiday-season/.
2008. “History of the Advent Wreath.” Celebrating Holidays. August 115. Accessed October 30, 2025. https://www.celebratingholidays.com/?page_id=1410.
Plese, Matthew. 2020. “The True Advent Fast.” The Fatime Center. November 8. Accessed October 30, 2025. https://fatima.org/news-views/the-true-advent-fast/.
Show, The Catholic Talk. 2024. “7 Things You Didn’t Know About Advent | The Catholic Talk Show.” YouTube. Accessed October 30, 2025. 7 Things You Didn’t Know About Advent | The Catholic Talk Show.
Staudt, Jared. 2019. “St. Martin’s Day: The Feast that Began the Fast.” Building Catholic Culture. November 8. Accessed October 30, 2025. https://buildingcatholicculture.com/st-martins-day-the-feast-that-began-the-fast/.
n.d. “The “O Antiphons” of Advent.” USCCB. Accessed October 30, 2025. https://www.usccb.org/prayers/o-antiphons-advent.
n.d. “The History of Advent.” Catholic News Agency. Accessed October 30, 2025. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resource/55951/the-history-of-advent.
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