Candles for Advent wreath | 4 colours | 3 cm x 30 cm

Candles for Advent wreath | Four colours

• Set of candles for the Advent wreath.
• Wax candles in the four liturgical colours.
• 3 cm in diameter and 30 cm high.
• Designed to be used in an Advent wreath during the four Sundays of Advent.
• Includes one red Advent candle, one green, one white, and one purple.
• Advent candles in the four liturgical colours available in our online shop.

What are Advent candles?

Advent candles are coloured candles that are placed in a circular candle holder (Advent wreath) during the four Sundays preceding Christmas. The light of the candles marks the countdown that culminates on Christmas Day, the day of the birth of Jesus.

The Advent candles form part of the interior preparation for the Christmas season. They serve as a guide for the prayer and introspection that characterise the beginning of the liturgical year.

This set of four candles is a visible sign of waiting and of Christian hope.

The colours of the candles for Advent wreath | liturgical meaning

The set is made up of four candles in the four liturgical colours: purple, red, green, and white. According to GIRM n. 337, the use of colours in the liturgy helps to express the different aspects of the Christian mystery throughout the year.

It is customary to decorate the circular candle holder, the Advent wreath, with green branches, as an introductory element to the meaning of Advent, a time of waiting and hope. The Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, in its section n. 98 recalls that the placing of four candles on the Advent wreath has become a widespread symbol of Advent in Christian homes. This arrangement highlights the progressive dimension of the journey, in which the light increases Sunday after Sunday until the solemnity of Christmas.

The colours of Advent candles have great doctrinal significance, related to the meaning of each of them within the context of the Church and in the pedagogy of signs.

Purple recalls the call to penance. Green evokes daily hope. Red refers to the blood shed by Christ out of love for humanity. And white suggests the radiant joy of Christ. Thus each Advent candle colour helps to convey a message of evangelisation in a visual way.

At times the question arises as to which colour of Advent candle is lit today. Usually one begins with a purple candle on the First Sunday of Advent, and a new candle is lit on each successive Sunday of Advent. On the Second and Third Sundays of Advent the red or green candles are lit. On the last Sunday of Advent the white candle is lit, as a symbol of the presence of Jesus.