The Advent Wreath, also known as Advent Ring. There are five candles round the circle of the evergreen leaves. Four candles are place around outside and one in the middle. The candles are lit week by week, each Sunday of Advent. Moreover, the one in the centre is lit in the Christmas Eve. The evergreen leaves stand for the light brought from the eternal life of Jesus, and the light coming toward of our world with the love and endless of God.
Many Christians use an Advent Candle during Advent. There are numbers 1 to 24 along the candle. The candle is lit to the next number everyday. It counts down the coming of Christmas.
Furthermore, Advent calendar is also used to count the days to Christmas. It is a cardboard calendar with 24 numbered little windows; the windows are opened each day in Advent. There are also some little pictures and some bible text giving a message of Christmas to anyone.
One more thing that Christians prepare for Christmas during Advent is Advent Prayers are used in many churches to represent the light from God.
Moreover, many people like to place a display of a crib. It is a model of the birth of Jesus. These remind Christian although Jesus is the Son of God, but he was born in a Palace, but a little dirty crib, and tell them the poverty of Jesus.
Light is used welcome Jesus, and it also symbolize Jesus, because he is the “light of the world” (John 8:12)
Christingle and The Jesse Tree are used to help children understand the meaning of Christmas. The Christingle is an orange that has red ribbon around it together with a little around it. Four sticks with some fruits and sweets are also put in the orange. They represent the love and the light of Jesus and God. The orange represent the world, with the blood of Jesus (the red ribbon) all around in four different seasons and four different corners in the world.
Children design the Jesse Tree; it tells them the importance of Christmas. Children can draw they own symbol for Christmas in a card and hung it on the branches as a decorations.
Carol singings and Christmas Services are also popular in the Christians celebrations. They sing the Christmas songs as a group and read Bible passages to the other. The money that they earn will donate to the needy.
Besides those customs, giving presents and cards are also popular in the celebration of Jesus. It gives the messages of the Wise Men to Jesus and the gift from God – Jesus. In the Christmas card, many of them will have a picture of Jesus and messages of the birth of God’s son, it reminds us the coming of our new world.
From all of the celebrations, we can see clearly the importance of the coming of Jesus, and how much Christians respect the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
