Advent Wreath
The custom of the Advent wreath dates back to the folk practices of people in early cultures who gathered evergreen wreaths and lighted fires as signs of hope in a coming spring and renewed light. In ancient Rome, people decorated houses and public buildings with evergreen wreaths and garland to welcome a New Year.

Christians continued to practice these traditions and by the 16th century, Catholics and Protestants throughout eastern Europe used these symbols to celebrate their Advent hope in Christ. The use of the Advent wreath spread to other parts of the Christian world.

The Advent Wreath represents the long time when people lived in spiritual darkness, waiting for the coming of the Messiah, the Light of the world. Each year in Advent, people wait in darkness for the coming of the Lord.

The Advent wreath holds four candles, one for each week of Advent. Three candles are violet or purple, the traditional color of Advent, to symbolize waiting, expectation and preparation. A fourth candle is rose or pink and is lit the Third Sunday of Advent. The Third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete (Latin for Rejoice) Sunday. Rose symbolizes the theme of the Third Sunday of Advent - Joy. A white candle, reserved for lighting on Christmas Eve, may be added to the wreath.

The four Sundays of Advent have special themes. The First Sunday of Advent is Hope. The Second Sunday of Advent is Peace. The Third Sunday of Advent is Joy. The Fourth Sunday of Advent is Love.

Each day at home, the candles are lighted, one candle the first week and then another each succeeding week until December 25. We light the candles of the Advent wreath as we pray for the Holy Spirit to calm our spirits and to prepare our hearts for the coming Christmas season.

Advent Wreath Symbols
The circular form of the wreath - God has no beginning or end.
The evergreen - God comes to us with new life.
The four candles - the four weeks of Advent.
The unlighted candles - the dark ages before Christ's coming.
The lighted candles - Christ, the Light of the World. Lighting one more candle each week represents that the coming Christ is closer.

Advent Wreath Blessing
Loving God, you give us this time of Advent to reflect upon your ever-unfolding mystery of salvation. In lighting the candles of this wreath, we ask your blessings upon us --- enlighten us in this grace-filled season to appreciate the unfolding Christmas story.

You sent us Jesus your Son, the Light of the world, to dispel the darkness within us and in the world around us. Let the light of this Advent wreath warm the coldness of our hearts and brighten our minds to truly live your love, not only to those near and dear to us, but to all your people in need. We ask this through Christ, our brother and savior.

Amen.

Candles, Lights, and Fire
Mainstreet, U.S.A., ablaze with electric lights, glows warmly in the winter cold. Strings of electric color are everywhere: on trees, winding across streets, outlining buildings, inside and outside. Why this display of light and color? The answer is actually "in our genes": we are creatures of nature.

Darkness and cold beset us these pre-winter days. Grey days and too long nights: how we groan when daylight-savings time ends, suddenly darkening our evenings. Our educated minds know the cause of the cold and dark. The tilt of the earth related to its yearly orbit around the sun lengthens the sun's rays. It all climaxes on December 21st, the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

But imagine the wonderment and the fear of our long distant prehistoric ancestors. They experienced the sun's greater distance and shorter appearances as a threat to the light and heat necessary for survival. What an awesome discovery fire must have been!

We cannot imagine it, for we have so tamed fire. The furnaces that heat us are distant from our sight. We presume the warmth of those furnaces in our homes, our cars, our stores and shops. Not so for prehistoric humans. Every bitter cold day was a struggle for survival. There were fewer food sources, less daylight for good gathering, and few resources for warding off hungry animals, penetrating cold, and devastating diseases.

Fire, then, was a Godsend, a sacred gift that saved humans from destruction. Fire allowed them to eat foods that were otherwise difficult to digest. Fire allowed them to heat their caves. Fire allowed them to drive off carnivorous animals. Fire made possible the use of pottery, bronze, and iron. Fire gave them light to lengthen their short winter days.

Now you can imagine why fire became a religious trust for prehistoric people. It was a buffer between life and death. Thus, as the winter sun grew weaker and fainter, humans worried that the sun would retreat forever. It was natural for humans to connect the ritual use of fire with ceremonies to entice the sun to return.

For many different cultures, then, fire became a religious symbol for midwinter festivals. The use and meaning of this symbol varied from place to place depending upon the climate, the myths of the people, and the ingenuity of the craftsmen. Druids lighted hilltop bonfires. Nordic peoples hoisted wagon wheels ablaze with lighted candles to the eaves of their large halls. Chinese exploded firecrackers to greet the dragon. Asians floated fireboats down the rivers. Saxon peoples brought in a special log to burn in their hearths. Jewish people burn Hanukkah candles to recall the rededication of their Temple.

For many peoples, then, late December became the time to celebrate the birthday of the conquering sun. It was an obvious time for early Christians to select as the birthday of the Son. Why, then, do we light up our lives in midwinter? To celebrate and give thanks for a simple gift: fire and light. To recognize how tenuous is the precious gift of life. To share warmth and light in dark days. To be a sure sign of hope to each other. And for us Christians, to acknowledge that God has hope for us human beings, because God became one of us: O Come, Emmanuel.

Fr. Bill Kohler, Archdiocese of Milwaukee Associate Vicar for Clergy



Caroling
At Christmastime, we sing music unique to this time of year. Once Christmas is past, this music is put aside. Yet, the charm of this music impresses us. We memorize these tunes for once a year celebration. These songs have a special name: "carols."

Caroling originally was dancing! The word "carol" is from the Greek "choros" - the dance. Many cultures and peoples incorporate dance into their religious ceremonies. In pre-Christian times, the circle-dance was probably in imitation of the movement of the snake, a symbol for fertility in nature. Caroling was dancing done while singing at any celebration. A remnant of this kind of song/circle-dance is the child's tune "The Farmer in the Dell."

The development of carols is complex and lost in history. In joyful response to the end of the Black Death (1340s), there was an outburst of dance and song. Somehow, the unison songs for dancing in the 14th century developed into songs for choruses to sing during processions on ceremonial occasions in the 15th and 16th centuries. Thus carols became tunes for choirs to sing on formal church occasions. Among these formal occasions, Christmas tended to be the most splendid.

At the same time, the Franciscan monks encouraged practices that brought the gospel stories to the common people. Under their influence, some of the unison songs sung to popular dances were given "Christian" words. The Franciscans, following St. Francis's own example, had the people sing these tunes in front of the cribs at Christmas.

Another custom influenced Christmas caroling. Among the English nobility, gifts were exchanged with all the members of the household, including the servants, on New Year's. As the gifts were delivered to each person's chamber door; a group of carolers would sing a salutation for good health and success in the New Year. This led to the custom of caroling while moving from door to door throughout the village.

Because of the earthiness of some of the popular carols, the Puritans of the 17th century discouraged caroling as a pagan custom. Likewise, they frowned upon dancing. But the custom continued in France, Italy, and other parts of Europe.

Christmas caroling revived in the 19th century. Many of the songs we hear are really modern compositions. These carols are often a ballad-like song, telling the tale of some poor person, like the "Little Drummer Boy." Much of the content of Christmas carols is fairy tale and legend. The story of Christmas, as recorded in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, is quite simple. In spite of the fictitious texts of Christmas carols, they serve us well in conveying the mystery and charm of a God who could be so vulnerable as to become a baby in a cradle. Common human beings have hope and assurance that the ordinariness of their lives has eternal possibilities.

Fr. Bill Kohler, Archdiocese of Milwaukee Associate Vicar for Clergy



The Christmas Tree
The reason for celebrating Christmas is the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. His birth in Bethlehem is recorded in the Bible in the gospels of Luke and Matthew. The customs of Christmas [that is the singing of carols, the gift giving, and the partying] are rooted in many different ancient folk customs.

The Druid nature religion
The Christmas tree, with all its charm and beauty, has its beginning in the ancient Celtic Druid religion of northern Europe. Winter for these pre-Christian people was especially harsh and dangerous. In the bitter cold, the evergreen tree was often the only green living thing around. So it was a sign of hope that life would conquer the death and darkness of winter. The Druids cherished the evergreen tree as sacred.

The Druid people become Christian
Over many centuries, when the peoples of Europe were converted to Christianity, they continued to cling to their older customs. The Church leaders realized that they could not root out all of these pagan customs. Therefore, it "baptized" many of them. It was easy for the Church to transform the sacred Druid evergreen into the tree of Christ's birthday festival. Curiously, there are evergreen trees in Bethlehem, although it is not so cold as northern Europe. And it rarely snows!

The evergreen tree goes to church
In medieval Germany, church plays were performed in which one of the main pieces of scenery was an evergreen tree, which symbolized the Garden of Eden. The tree was hung with apples and sometimes decorated with ribbons and lighted candles. These people imagined that Adam and Eve had eaten an apple from the tree in the Garden of Eden in disobedience to God's command. Now the apple was used to show that Jesus obeyed God.

During the 15th century these Mystery Plays were taken out of the churches, because they had become very rowdy. The Church leaders felt that they were disrespectful in church. The people, however, cherished the evergreen tree. So they moved it into their homes, where it was further decorated with cookies and nuts.

Christmas trees in the USA
In the United States, the Christmas tree was imported with the German soldiers who helped General George Washington win the Revolutionary War. The Christmas tree custom did not become immediately popular with the American colonials.

In the 1850s President Franklin Pierce set up a Christmas tree in the White House. This helped the Christmas tree to become an American custom. At the beginning of this century, another president, Theodore Roosevelt, almost extinguished the custom. Roosevelt was actively concerned about the conservation of our nation's natural resources. He questioned the wholesale harvesting of evergreen for Christmas trees. Therefore, he forbade the setting up of a Christmas tree in the White House. He didn't take into consideration the ingenuity of his own sons. They smuggled a tree into the White House and were defended by none other than Gifford Pinchot, chief of the forestry service. Pinchot pointed out how harvesting young trees did not have to be a threat to forest conservation.

Making the Christmas tree your family custom

• Try to decorate your tree as a family. Use it as a time to be together and enjoy each other's company.
• Buy a few special ornaments over the years and give them as gifts to one another. Choose an ornament that symbolizes something special about the person to whom you are giving it.
• The American season of Christmas and the Church's season of Christmas are at slightly different times. American Christmas is from Thanksgiving to New Year. Church Christmas is from Christmas Eve to the second Sunday after the New Year. Try to keep your Christmas tree up for the Church season of Christmas. If you set it up early, don't trash it the day after Christmas.

In ancient Rome, at New Year's time, it was a pagan custom to decorate houses and public buildings with wreaths and roping of green leafy branches. This was done to honor the "Conquering Sun" which was beginning to return after the shortest day of the year. Because of the pagan connections, early Christian leaders discouraged the Christian community from celebrating the midwinter festivals.

The mistletoe plant fascinated the ancient Druids. To them it seemed divine because it had no roots and yet it remained green all winter. We know that mistletoe is a parasitical plant that grows off certain trees. Yet to the ancients, its leaves and white berries were powerful medicine against poison and other evil spirits. Probably that ancient belief is at the root of our custom of enticing someone to kiss one by standing under a sprig of mistletoe.

The Greeks of a later Christian period had the custom of making wreaths out of myrtle, olive, and orange branches. Renters would give these wreaths to their landlords as a Christmas gift. Florists still use these leafy boughs to make attractive floral arrangements.

In the days of the Norsemen (Scandinavian countries), the only sign of life in a very cold winter landscape was the evergreen. One midwinter custom they had was to decorate a wheel with evergreen boughs, fix candles to it, and hoist it to the ceiling of their great halls. These burning candelabra were meant to be an enticement for the winter sun to slowly return again. You can see that this is ancestor to our advent wreath.

In Medieval England (14th-15th centuries) a holly tree was carried through the town in a torchlight procession. In the less severe winters of England, the holly, the ivy, and the mistletoe all bloomed in winter. Thus they were handy plants to garland homes with. Wreaths were made of these branches as a symbol and reminder that life remained in the dead of winter.

What, then, is the meaning of evergreen branches, holly sprigs, mistletoe, etc.? They are a reminder that just when things seem to be dying on us, God comes to us with life. Just when the days get shorter and darkness seems to overcome us, this greenery reminds us that life continues. Just when the cold forces us all indoors and our closeness together could lead to greater strain and bickering, we decorate our rooms festively and invite one another to be joyous and celebrate.

So, decorate your homes with boughs and bring joy to your families, friends, and neighbors. Our God comes to save us!

Fr. Bill Kohler, Archdiocese of Milwaukee Associate Vicar for Clergy