Advent

(From Latin, adventus, coming), the season in the Christian year preceding Christmas, first mentioned by the Council of Tours (AD 567).

The length of the Advent season varies: in the West it commences on the Sunday nearest to St Andrew's Day (30 November): in the East it lasts forty days.

Although lacking the strictness of Lent, it is traditionally a penitential season of fasting in anticipation both of Christmas and of the expected Second Coming of Christ on Judgement Day.

Advent customs include the lighting of candles and, in the West, the liturgical use of purple in Church services.