Creating an Advent Wreath

An Advent wreath consists of five candles. One candle is lit each of the four weeks prior to Christmas, and the final candle is lit on Christmas Eve.

The first four candles are all the same color. The fifth candle, which is placed in the middle, is called the Christ candle and is a different color.

Typically, each candle is assigned a theme (the candle of hope, the candle of love, the candle of peace, etc.). Sometimes each candle is assigned a character from the Christmas story (the joseph candle, the mary candle, etc.).

So here's how this works: Each evening of the first week of Advent, you light just the first candle of the wreath. On the second week, you light the first and second candles each night, and so on through the rest of the weeks. Only on Christmas Eve do you light the Christ candle, signaling the arrival of the light of the world.

Advent for 2009 begins on November 29th. New Day will have candles available that Sunday to help you get your wreath started. We will also begin our daily posts that day, providing suggestions for reflection and discussion.