Advent wreath

Beginning with the First Sunday of Advent, the lighting of a candle can be accompanied by a Bible reading, devotional time and prayers.

[8] Research by Mary Jane Haemig of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, points to Johann Hinrich Wichern (1808–1881), a Lutheran pastor in Germany and a pioneer in urban mission work among the poor, as the inventor of the modern Advent wreath.

During Advent, children at the mission school Rauhes Haus, founded by Wichern in Hamburg, would ask daily if Christmas had arrived.

In 1964, an Advent crown, made at home from wire coathangers and tinsel, appeared on the BBC's bi-weekly children's TV program Blue Peter.

This "make" became one of the program's most iconic features, repeated each year, and was the introduction of this tradition to most of the broadly Anglican audience.

For denominations of the Western Christian Church, violet is the historic liturgical color for three of the four Sundays of Advent as it is the traditional color of penitential seasons; blue has been historically used too, as it represents hopefulness, reflective of the theme of Advent surrounding the First Coming of Jesus and Second Coming of Jesus.

[16][14] In other Protestant churches, especially in the United Kingdom, it is more common for Advent wreaths to have four red candles (reflecting their traditional use in Christmas decorations).