Time to Christmas - Advent Advent traditionally starts St Andrew's Day - 30. November - the nearest Sunday and lasts until 24 . December , or Christmas Eve, and even today , even more than many hundreds of years , symbolizing mankind yearning for Christ's Second Coming . It is approximately four weeks period before Christmas that Christians associate with fasting , peace, quiet , reflection to physically and mentally prepare for the joyful mood and festivities of the Church - the birth of Jesus Christ . Advent is the most important keywords are coming and waiting . Not for nothing Advent same name translates from the Latin . Christianity proclaims that Advent is a time when the human soul , thoughts , emotions , feelings and inner world takes place special preparation for the Son of God - Jesus Christ's birth and hence the entry of our world, a symbol of . People open their souls bright , good deeds , gratitude , patience , kindliness , honesty and other good traits , work . Advent on 24 slips of paper can be written in 24 different right- determination , for example, . Advent wreath is the most important symbol of the circle , or that historically represents eternity and unity . Wreath has four candles, one for each Sunday - every each of them is as the light bearer that each Advent Sunday shines brightly , showing the way to the light of its victory over darkness , good over evil dominance . However, the evergreen pine or spruce branches, of which the wicker wreath , the hope of eternal life and a symbol of all of those strongly dominated by Christianity . Another one of those colors that traditional Christianity is purple - it is this color symbolizes the fasting time and the arrival of the King of the Earth . The purple color of Advent is dominated by the priests and pastors the dress , altārsegās that by assigning the highest expression of joy , Christmas is being replaced by a white . With purple canvas and off , for example , before Easter , is covered crucifixes in churches , the priests used clothes . Therefore, especially in the advent wreath making yourself among green needles may implicate a purple ribbon , and also desirable to choose the candles purple , blue or red . Because without repentance, symbolizing the purple wreath decoration can also use the color pink , especially on the third Sunday , or red , which stands for the love of Jesus to the people . A wreath symbolizing the victory of light over darkness . Lit each subsequent Advent wreath candle are meant for each Sunday of Advent the Church 's liturgy role . The first Sunday is Christ the waiting time , the second Sunday is a travel preparation to Christ, the third Sunday is a time when increasing the joy of the imminent coming of the Son of God and salvation , while the last Sunday in the Virgin - . Third Advent is a joyful day of the four Sundays because it symbolizes the joy of mankind reasonable expectation that the world will enter the light and love of God . The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the first candle is called the Prophet a candle symbolizing hope - Christ and the second is the Bethlehem candle , denoting a call to salvation . However, the third candle is the shepherds - the pleasure , but the fourth - angel candle or love . By the time the fourth Sunday of Advent before Christmas, the Church begins the liturgical year . As a Latvian , so many other parts of the world, this time is different operations, asking people not to remain indifferent , it's like the churches of Our Lady runs Rorātmises . They occur very early in the morning , before light, symbolizing the world of darkness before the arrival of Jesus' birth . Lighting , pointing to the joy of salvation is lit sing the birth of Christ at the time of the angels resound the anthem . Similarly, various public places, as well as the churches are organized in so-called ' Bethlehem Live ' . Despite the fact that Advent is a time for peace and quiet prayers for self , good and bad evaluation , and especially this past month of strict fasting , not only restricts the excesses of the EU . For example, commercially-available, especially designed for children to Christmas calendar with 24 compartments for each day of Advent - each of them lies a lollipop , delicious snack or another surprise . Commerce, commercialism, hit the same Advent wreaths are available for purchase in stores - they are rarely simple, unobtrusive as possible less intrusive . Increasingly, the look is gorgeous, adorned with wreaths and candles not only tapes or cones , ornaments and bright , eye-catching details - so in terms of modern purchasers often have a higher demand . More and more people every Sunday lit a candle , let neaizdomājoties of their significance and bearing witness . Today, with the advent of individual understands this four -week period on Sunday , so it could be argued that the advent of the four Advent . This is because the company is often different views of how to properly call this time - as masculine or Advent Advent . This issue was addressed by the linguist John Endzelīns giving his own interpretation . In his view , the four Sundays of encircling the period as a whole is called the Advent masculine , like sex, this is also referred to other prolonged periods - fasting , month , quarter , year . While the shorter periods - Decade , week , day , hour, minute, second hand feminine as a result of each of the Sundays in the period of reflection can be called Advent . Moreover, the Latvian Encyclopedia and church calendars stop at the use of the word masculine . This large standby time of the Church 's life is the beginning of the road towards climax - Easter . .