Is circular to represent eternity and has 4 candles…..
The first candle of the Advent Wreath, the Prophecy Candle or Candle of Hope, is purple. The second, called the Bethlehem Candle or the Candle of Preparation, is also purple. The designation of the Sundays in Advent has changed with the changing liturgy. Traditionally it was Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell, now it’s Patriarchs, Prophets, John the Baptist, Virgin Mary.
Pink (or rose) is also one of the colours of Advent used during the third Sunday of Advent , also known as Gaudete Sunday (churches with Rose vestments would use them for Advent 3 – we haven’t any so we stay in purple). This is the week for the pink (rose) candle. Rose represents joy or rejoicing and reveals a shift in the season away from repentance and toward celebration. The Scriptural basis for this Sunday comes from Philippians 4:4,5. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.” Similar to Laetare Sunday during Lent, (Refreshment Sunday) Gaudete Sunday is a minor “break” from the more penitential nature of the Advent season, and signals a shift from a penitential style of waiting to a more joyful tone. In the past, when organs and flowers were forbidden during the Advent Season, they were permitted on Gaudete Sunday.
On the fourth Sunday in Advent we go back to purple. The fourth candle is sometimes called the Angel Candle or the Candle of Love.
Finally, we have the white candle, the Christmas candle, in the centre of the wreath, which is first lit for Midnight Mass Not all Advent wreaths have a place for a fifth candle ours hasn’t. I haven’t forgotten the Christmas a certain assistant priest, lighting the last of the four candles on the Advent wreath told the children “And on Christmas Day there’ll be a white candle in the middle” – leaving me to work out quite how I was going to do that!
The Advent wreath