Every year, fours Sundays before Christmas, we make an Advent Wreath.
The traditions goes way back and symbolizes the love of God, which has no end and no beginning. The Advent Wreath traditionally is made of evergreens to symbolize life during the winter time.
In Ayoe’s family the Advent Wreath has been a big deal for many years, so of course she is bringing the tradition to Canada as well 🙂
The wreath has four candles and one candle is lit on the first Sunday of Advent, two candles are lit on the second Sunday and so on. The lighting of the candles are often accompanied with a song. First verse is sung on the first Sunday, verse one and two are sung on the second Sunday, one, two and three on the third, and you guessed it: All four verses are sung on the forth Sunday!
More or less directly translated from Danish, it goes something like this:
1
Now we light a candle tonight,
We are lighting it for joy,
It stands and shines by itself,
And for us, who are present,
Now we light a candle tonight,
We are lighting it for joy.
2
Now we light two candles tonight,
Two candles for hope and joy,
They stand and shine by themselves,
And for us, who are present,
Now we light two candles tonight,
Two candles for hope and joy.
3
Now we light three candles tonight,
For longing, hope and joy,
They stand and shine by themselves,
And for us, who are present,
Now we light three candles tonight,
For longing, hope and joy.
4
We light four candles tonight,
And let them burn all the way down,
For longing, joy, hope and peace,
But mostly anyways,
For peace on this little earth,
Where the humans live.
Over the years there has been many different interpretations of the look of the Advent Wreath. It usually has red, white or purple coloured ribbons, some different decorative natural things such as cones, leaves, mandarins, apples and others, and of course the four candles, which can also vary in colour but usually red, white and purple as well. Sometimes the decorations are coloured with gold or silver spray paint to look even more glamorous.
Now a days the look has changed even more and many use tea lights in colourful holders and decorate a plate with various creative things, so the wreath is actually not a wreath at all, but four lights on a decorated plate.
The bottomline is however the same: it is “hyggeligt”! And that is what Christmas is all about for Ayoe and her family.
If you wish to make an Advent Wreath yourself, you can get some inspiration from the pictures below, and see them as a step to create your own style of wreath.
-Merry Christmas!