Afterwork-Vinotheque-Evening - Pre-Christmas Period

Advent is a season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of waiting and preparation for both the celebration of Jesus's birth at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, often referred to as Advent Sunday. Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name comes from Latin adventus ('coming; arrival'), translating the Greek parousia from the New Testament, originally referring to the Second Coming.

Practices associated with Advent include Advent calendars, lighting an Advent wreath, praying an Advent daily devotional, erecting a Chrismon tree, lighting a Christingle, as well as other ways of preparing for Christmas, such as setting up Christmas decorations, a custom that is sometimes done liturgically through a hanging of the greens ceremony.

It is not known when the period of preparation for Christmas that is now called Advent began, though it was certainly in existence from about 480; the novelty introduced by the Council of Tours of Protected content to order monks to fast every day in the month of December until Christmas. According to J. Neil Alexander, it is "impossible to claim with confidence a credible explanation of the origin of Advent".