Four Feast Days to Celebrate During Advent
It’s no secret that our Church is home to a lot of beautiful traditions. Traditions are like spices — they add warmth and depth and flavor to the rhythmical cadence of the liturgical year. Throughout the year (during Lent, Advent, Easter, Christmas, and Ordinary Time) the feast days of Saints are sprinkled like mulling spices in a hot cup of cider. These feast days help to break up the seasons and remind us of the remarkable men and women who have gone before — the ones who pave the narrow way. Choosing to celebrate these feast days can help add some of that spice into our own life, and breaks up the everyday in ways that focus us on our journey.
There are four popular feast days that are commonly celebrated during Advent in different cultures around the world. These are the Feast of Saint Nicholas, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the Feast of Saint Lucy.
The Feast of Saint Nicholas
The Feast of Saint Nicholas is celebrated on December 6th, and honors the Saint colloquially known as Santa Claus. Traditionally, the Feast of Saint Nicholas is celebrated a lot like Christmas Day — with a few alterations. Instead of stockings, shoes are left out in front of a fireplace. These are then filled with candy (especially candy canes), gold coins (usually chocolate), and fruit (generally mandarin oranges), as well as small gifts.
Saint Nicholas was the bishop of Myra, a small town that was located in what is now Turkey. There are many stories and legends associated with the Saint. One popular tale tells the story of three poor women who were unable to marry because they did not have enough money for a dowry. On three separate occasions, Nicholas threw a bag of gold coins through their window, thus saving them from being forced into prostitution.
A number of traditions arose from this tale. In some versions of the story, the gold landed in a stocking or a shoe drying by the fire. From this arose the tradition of placing stockings or shoes by the fire on the eve of the feast, filled with carrots or hay for Saint Nicholas’s donkey. In the morning, these stockings or shoes would be filled with various gifts. Gold coins, and sometimes small oranges, represent the gold dowry Nicholas gave to the three young women. In addition to coins or oranges, candy canes are often given to represent a bishop’s crozier (the tall curved shepherd’s staff that bishops of the Catholic Church carry).
More Resources
Customs around the World – St. Nicholas Center
Recipes for St. Nicholas Day – The Spruce
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is on December 8th and celebrates the conception of Mary. It is called the “Immaculate Conception” because of the teaching by the Church that Mary, from the moment of her conception, was without original sin. This day is a Holy Day of Obligation, which means you are required to attend Mass.
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a great day to pray a rosary, or any other Marian prayer. One popular tradition for the feast day is to set up a Mary candle in your home. The Mary candle is a white candle covered in a cloth (often white lace or silk). The candle represents Christ, while the cloth represents Mary. The candle remains covered until Christmas Day, at which time the cloth is removed to reveal the candle beneath.
More Resources
More Information on the Immaculate Conception – NCR
The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is popular in Mexico and among the Hispanic community. This feast day occurs on December 12th and commemorates the appearance of Mary to Juan Diego in 1531.
In 1531, Mary appeared to a poor man living in a small town near Mexico City. Juan was walking by a hill when a beautiful young woman appeared to him, dressed as an Aztec princess. She spoke to him in his own language, and told him to go to the Bishop of Mexico and request that a chapel be erected in the spot on which they spoke.
When the bishop asked for a sign to prove that Juan’s vision was real, Mary gave Juan roses to carry to the bishop. Juan wrapped the roses in his tilma (a kind of cape), and brought them to the bishop. When he opened his tilma and the roses spilled to the ground, the bishop fell to his knees. There on Juan’s tilma was the image of Mary, exactly as she had appeared to him on the hill.
Popular ways to celebrate this feast include setting up a home altar for Our Lady of Guadalupe, holding a vigil Mass the night before, and the retelling or reenactment of the story of Juan Diego. In many parishes and communities, a fiesta is held after the vigil Mass. This fiesta generally lasts all night, and sometimes well into the next day.
More Resources
More information – Catholic Company
Recipes – Our Lady of Guadalupe
The Feast of Saint Lucy
The Feast of Saint Lucy takes place on December 13. Saint Lucy was a young virgin and martyr during the time that the Roman Empire was persecuting Christians.
In some cultures (especially Scandinavia), Saint Lucy’s feast day is celebrated with a Mass procession of girls carrying candles. The lead girl wears a wreath of candles on her head.
The story goes that Lucy would wear a wreath of candles on her head so that she could see as she carried armfuls of supplies to Christians hiding in the underground catacombs.
Another popular way to celebrate Saint Lucy’s feast day is by baking a sweet bread called Saint Lucy’s bread. In Sweden, on the morning of Saint Lucy’s feast, it is tradition for the oldest girl in the family to dress up as Saint Lucy and wake her family members at dawn to bring them bread.
More Resources
Activities and Recipes – Catholic Icing
More Activities and Recipes – Real Life at Home
How do you celebrate during Advent? Let me know in the comment section below!
