Advent Traditions

  • Advent calendars are used to count down the days until Christmas. Many include daily activity and prayer suggestions that can help us prepare spiritually for the birth of Jesus Christ
  • There are a variety of Advent calendars on our Advent Calendars page.
  • Advent is full of fantastic opportunities with deep traditions to celebrate the feasts in our Church’s Liturgical Calendar. These feasts include St. Nicholas Day on the 6th, St. Lucy on the 13th, and our Lady of Guadalupe on the 15th. See our Weekly Advent Faith at Home planner for details on how to add the many feast day traditions our faith holds to your family’s Advent plans.

Further discussion of these Advent traditions, plus more not covered here, and ideas for celebrating them can be found on Shower of Roses.

In Family Advent Customs (1954), Helen McLoughlin wrote:

“Advent is the beginning of the new liturgical year. It is a season of spiritual preparation, marked by eager longing for the coming of the Saviour through grace at Christmas, and for His second and final coming. It is also an ideal time to establish in our homes liturgical customs which will restore our children to Christ… Secularism has invaded our households. The Bishops of the United States (back in 1954) have warned us that “the Christian must make his home holy–the Christian must realize the Christian ideal.” ….. Children, who love the beauty and simplicity of family religious practices, make the traditions easy to establish. As a rule it is best to begin with one or two customs and add others in years to come.” (as quoted at Shower of Roses)