Advent: "First We Fast, Then We Feast"

[The_Reginator]

This sums up some of my developing attitude about Advent.
Well, it’s been ‘developing’ for decades.
I wish there was a way to get the world to wait until Christmas to celebrate Christmas.

Advent will soon be upon us, and as in most years, the first Sunday of Advent falls three days after Thanksgiving 2011 in the United States. That may help explain why, over the years, Advent has become less a period of preparation for the birth of Christ than a pre-celebration of Christmas. Most Christmas parties are held during Advent, rather than during the 12 days of Christmas (the period between Christmas Day and Epiphany), and the entire month of December becomes one big feast.

Combine all that with the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping, early gift exchanges, the baking of Christmas cookies, and plenty of eggnog, and too often we may find ourselves on Christmas Day physically prepared but not spiritually so.

The answer lies in a return to tradition. Advent used to be known as the “Little Lent,” because of its penitential and preparatory nature. Both the Western and Eastern Church observed Advent with the traditional Lenten practices: fasting and abstinence, prayer, and almsgiving.

And then, when Christmas Day finally arrives, we may find that our fast has increased the joy of our feast.

When my mother was a little girl (the 1930s) she says that the period between Christmas and New Years was the time for visiting, sharing food, etc. Her family were all Mennonites.

I really dislike hearing Christmas hymns before December 25th. I do not put up the tree until almost Christmas Eve. The tree then stays up until Epiphany (January 6th).

So I am working on some sort of fasting and not getting at all caught up in the material things … beyond what has to be done in way of preparation.

 

[Statius]

I quite agree. I think the old practice of giving something up for Advent just as we would do in Lent is a good start.

 

[drforjc]

I do not put up the tree until almost Christmas Eve.

I tried suggesting this but DW and kids just about staged a mutiny.

The tree then stays up until Epiphany (January 6th).

This I insisted on, actually up to the Baptism of the Lord.