The four candles of Advent, and what each one is for

Advent means arrival, and the wreath is a way of counting toward one. Four Sundays, four candles, lit one more each week so the room gets progressively brighter as December goes on. It is a simple device and a genuinely effective one, particularly with children, who understand a growing light far better than they understand a season of waiting.

The four Sundays

• Hope — the first Sunday, purple. Sometimes called the Prophet's candle. The long wait, and the promise that it ends.
• Peace — the second, purple. The Bethlehem candle.
• Joy — the third, and this one is rose rather than purple. Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin for rejoice: a deliberate lightening in the middle of a solemn season.
• Love — the fourth, purple. The Angel's candle.

Then the white one in the centre, the Christ candle, lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. That is the one the other four have been counting toward.

Why purple, and why one is pink

Purple is the colour of penitence and of royalty, which is a useful double meaning for a season that is both preparing and celebrating. The rose candle on the third Sunday is a small mercy built into the calendar — a breath halfway through, a reminder that the waiting is not the point.

How to actually do it

Keep it short. Five minutes beats twenty, especially with a table of children who can smell dinner.

Light the candles for the weeks you have reached — one on the first Sunday, two on the second, and so on. Read the passage. Say one sentence each about what that word means to you this year, and let people say something small. Then blow them out and eat.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. — Isaiah 9:2

The temptation every year is to make it more elaborate than last year. Resist it. The reason the wreath has survived a thousand years is that it is four candles and a match.