The Advent Season
“'Tis the Season to be Jolly! Fa la la la la, la la la la~” when this music fills the shops, we know it is that time of the year again! Christmas is the festival that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. It is also a time of great cultural and communal significance in the UK: a time for family gatherings, and also a time for people to take part in many iconic celebrations surrounding Christmas. And celebrations in anticipation for Christmas will begin on 3 December this year!
The Advent
While Christmas Day is observed on the 25 December in Christian communities and countries that follow the Gregorian calendar, many churches in the UK will start celebrating the coming of Jesus four weeks before Christmas. These four weeks are called “Advent” (from the Latin word Adventus, meaning “coming” or “arriving”), with 3 December (First Sunday of Advent) marking the beginning of this year’s Advent Season. And as the birth of Jesus Christ brought new life to mankind and a chance to reconcile with God, traditionally churches also celebrate First Advent Sunday as the new year day on the church calendar.
During the Advent, churches will hold different kinds of services and activities, to welcome the birth of Christ and to wait for His coming again. For example, there will be Christingle Services for children, in which children will get an orange with a candle on top, representing the light of Christ shining over the world. There will also be Nativity Plays, which are dramas in which children play out scenes from the Bible about the first Christmas. There will also be traditional church services like Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols and other Advent Carols. You can visit nearby churches to see if there is anything suitable for you to experience what Advent is all about!
Advent Calendars
Though Advent started on 3 December, for most Brits - especially the children - 1 December is the beginning of the Christmas Season that they have been waiting for. Because in the UK, many people will buy Advent calendars for their children and themselves. This kind of calendar is usually a cupboard or a box consisting of 24 or 25 little windows. And you can open one window each day from 1 December, and Christmas Day will be upon you by the time you open the last window. What are hidden behind these little windows? For more traditional calendars, they usually contain pictures depicting the Christmas story. For the more common calendars on sale, they usually hide chocolate, candies, or other tiny gifts. Some families will even make their own Advent calendars and prepare special treats or messages for their children.
Christmas markets
When it comes to winter celebrations in the West, our minds may immediately come up with images of the fairy-tale-like German Christmas market scenes in continental Europe. But actually, many UK cities also organise their own Christmas markets! These markets are held from mid-November to the end of December every year, and different Christmas markets offer different attractions: you can find the largest open-air skating rink in the UK at the Christmas market in Hyde Park, London. And you can also find rides like merry-go-rounds, traditional Christmas treats, decorations, crafts and more at different Christmas markets.
If you want to know if there is a Christmas market near you, you can look it up online, or ask your local friends about it. Visiting Christmas markets with local friends and learning about the local Christmas traditions is also a good way to enjoy your winter season!
Christmas Lights
You probably already see beautiful Christmas lights lighting up your city (especially at the city centre and at the shopping areas) and your neighbourhood. Christmas lights are indeed a very important part of Christmas in Britain. Some cities would even invite local celebrities to turn on the lights, with crowds gathering to countdown for the moment when the lights are turned on. Many families would also start decorating their homes with lights and Christmas trees after Thanksgiving, which falls on 24 November this year.
Pantomimes
Apart from Nativity Plays, many parents in the UK will take their children to pantomimes during Advent. Pantomimes is a form of interactive theatre, their repertoires are often based on classical fairy tales, but with added elements of audience participation, jokes, and comedies. During the performance the audience will be encouraged to clap, shout, sing, or dance with the actors. Sometimes the audience will even join together to shout at the leading actor/actress: “The villain is before you!” So, in short, pantomime is a Christmas activity where everyone can join together to raise as big a ruckus and have as much fun as they like.
After this introduction, are you also looking forward to the Christmas Season, like we are? We hope that you will experience a great Advent this December, one that will be filled with joy and hope!
