Ad-vent-ure into Christmas
Advent is meant to be simple so that Christmas becomes special
If you love Christmas but don’t want to feel overtly Christmassy from the first day of December itself, then it’s perfect for you to observe Advent. Advent is the four week period of prayer and meditation before Christmas. During this period Christians pray and meditate on the birth of Jesus which occurred a little over 2000 years ago . And it’s also a period of anticipation and spiritual preparation for the second coming of Jesus.
The observance of Advent began in the 5th century, in France. And from there it gradually spread to the rest of Europe.
The custom of making an advent wreath originated in Germany, in the 16th century, but it became popular only in the 19th century. From there this custom too gradually spread to other parts of Europe.
As Christianity spread to other parts of the world, so did the observance of Advent as a time of fasting, meditation and prayer and the tradition of making an advent wreath.
Growing up within the Christian community in the city of Mumbai, Christmas was and still is a much loved festival , for both local Christians and people of other faiths as well. However making an advent wreath, lighting a purple or pink candle and praying together was something we did mostly in churches or in schools, but not really in individual homes and families.
Even so, the activity of making a simple Advent wreath in your home is a great way to remind yourself that the four weeks upto Christmas are for eating and/or fasting , praying and loving
In my own home I don’t have an advent wreath. But I do have an advent platter on my dining table. It consists of 4 short candles — 3 purple and one pink arranged on a simple round plate. Each candle is placed in a small glass bowl( to catch the drips of wax when it’s lit), on the plate. Interspersed with the candles are everyday seasonal fruit and whole nuts like walnuts or pistachios in their shells. Closer to Christmas and time permitting I may add small homemade cookies or kuls kuls to the arrangement. Kul- kuls are crisp deep-fried bite-sized sweet or savoury spirals of pastry. I have to encase these in air tight plastic packets to keep them remaining fresh despite Mumbai’s humid weather and to protect them from Christmas partying ants !! Fruit and nuts are a healthy snack at any time of the day. While cookies and especially kul -kuls offer a foretaste of Christmas joy ahead. Picking them in small quantities off the platter , from around the symbolic candles serves as a physical reminder to guests and relatives to be grateful for whatever they have been blessed with in the past year.
I keep the arrangement intentionally simple and uncluttered. The candles are short to avoid tilting and falling over when lit. I do not use artificial fir tree branches, because real coniferous fir trees are not native to Mumbai. And as far as possible I include, some produce that has been organically grown on our orchard or field in a village, not far from Mumbai. So seen in the picture above are guavas (on either side of platter) and custard apples (on the platter). Guavas do have an association with Christmas , as guava ‘cheese’ -is a favourite chewy tangy-sweet confection, made in India at Christmas time. Custard apples are not really connected with Christmas in any way. They are in season from August to October. However this year our custard apple trees fruited later than usual…. Hmmm…. could this be a consequence of climate change?….Maybe….will they be as abundantly fruitful in future as they have been in previous years? …. that’s a small joy to hope for ….
In this alternative linear arrangement below I have placed the candles side by side on a rectangular platter and surrounded them with sour limes.
Why sourlimes you may ask? .Simple answer…. the trees in our orchard are fruiting again but not as well as they have in the past years…… Hmmm …. is this too a consequence of climate change?…. Maybe…. will they too continue to be abundantly fruitful in future? ….that’s another joy to anticipate, since sour-limes are a key ingredient in everyday and festive Indian cooking.
So it would be appropriate to light a purple candle and pray that our foodgrain, vegetable and fruit crops are not devastated by climate change. It would be appropriate to light a purple candle and pray that more people choose to eat sustainably grown food, and more farmers grow food sustainably, while respecting the earth’s resources. It would be appropriate to light a purple candle and pray that each one of us uses the world’s water resources in a just and sustainable manner, so that no one is deprived of water. And it would be appropriate to light a pink candle and pray that during the twelve days of Christmas celebrations (from 25th December 2023 to 06th January 2024) each one of us adds a few new ecologically sustainable habits which become an inseparable part of our daily lives in future.
