About Advent
‘Arrival of a notable person or thing’ Oxford English Dictionary.
Advent derives from the Latin root, adventus. This approximates as ‘arrival’ through advenire, with ad meaning ‘to’ and venire ‘come’.
When used in general English, advent describes a ‘starting point’ as in the advent of mobile phones.
The origin is not biblical — the first reference to it in Christian teaching is in the late sixth century. By around the year 800 CE mid winter festivals were adapted to the Christian calendar. Advent became an umbrella term to describe the immediate period leading up to the celebration of the birth of Christ on Christmas Day.
Other Latin words became more widely used in English as a result of the Medieval ecclesiastical tradition — but as revived in the late nineteenth century. “Gaudete” and “Veni, veni, Emmanuel” was part of the vespers or evening liturgy for the final week of Advent.
Isaiah 7:14 that God will give Israel a child symbolically called “Immanuel” (literally, “God with us”), which Matthew 1:23 says was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. Calendar
The keeping of a special calendar is the most universal tradition associated with Advent. This originally relied on near universal familiarity with the story of the Nativity. Today many commercial Advent calendars have no religious iconography.
