...offer a rich annual round of celebrations, prayer, and activities for families. Recipes, songs, games, and all sorts of other things ranging from nursery rhymes to pub signs, are rooted in the annual cycle of the seasons. Of course some things are well known - but others are worth discovering or celebrating in some new way, offering opportunities for hospitality and family gatherings. Want to know more? Since producing my first book on the subject over twenty years ago, and several updated versions (fifth edition is now in print) I have relished learning more and passing it all on...there are ideas here for schools and parish groups as well as families and get-togethers of friends. If you live in Sussex, you could come and hear all about it on Monday Nov 6th, 7.30pm at St Philip's Church, Uckfield.
Learn about the significance of the number 40 and why it is so central in Scripture and in the life of the Church...find out why we celebrate Christmas on the date that we do...discover the origins of the Advent wreath and how to make one...and why it's absurd to think Christmas finishes at teatime on Dec 25th...and more...
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Dear Joanna. Do you know of special fasting during the season of Advent, as we have special fasting during the season of Lent. I have been researching this, and came across the Nativity Fast, but I am not sure where the church stands on fasting during the season of Advent. During Lent, we know Fridays are meat free, and we follow the "One main meal and two light collations" rule during the day. Could this be applied for the season of Advent? I would like to have your thoughts on this. Thank you. From John King in Northern Ireland.
So far as I know, there is no formal requirement to fast in Advent...it is a season of penance and preparation for Christmas but there is no requirement to fast. I understand that some monasteries and convents observe an Advent fast, but, at any rate in recent Church history, it has not been observed among the ordinary lay faithful.
ALL Fridays, not just those in Lent, are days of abstinence from meat.
There is a clear need to try to give some attention to an understanding of Advent as a season of preparation...not easy when the office parties and carol services-with-drinks-and-mince-pies start in mid-November. Ideas welcomed...
Dear Joanna, thank you for your reply. I agree, there is so much distraction during Advent, that the preparation for Christmas is ignored. I have developed my own personal Advent Prayer and Fast plan, I usually dedicate the Daily Rosary, Daily Prayer along with extra adoration and a special fast day on each week of Advent.
I live in Derry City, Northern Ireland and in our St Columba's Long Tower Church, we have a nine week novena on the lead up to Christmas dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help over nine Sundays. Each Sunday at 6.00pm, we gather to recite the rosary, sing hymns, hear a talk given by a guest speaker, Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction and a wonderful atmosphere as preparation for Christmas. This Sunday we have as guest speaker the Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, a native from our city of Derry.
I will remember you in our prayers at this service this Sunday night. God Bless.
Unfortunately its become the convention for the festive season to run from mid-November to January 2nd, with works dos before Christmas. We have a Catholic club and we hold a Christmas dinner during the twelve days - it's also easier to book. I'm not sure how to do it, but an insistence on "the twelve days of Christmas" would help. Unfortunately commercial premises will be last to change. Even if we stopped pre-Christmas parties, people would still buy things for the festival in Advent, which means the shops want to create a sense of occasion in the weeks before Christmas.
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