Celebrating Advent in your Home
A Festival to Kindle our Inner Light
As the outer world begins to darken in the northern hemisphere and the air carries the quiet of winter’s approach, we begin a quiet journey into a season of reverence and light, the season of Advent. Rooted in the Christian tradition, Advent is also celebrated around the world through a universal and nature-based lens that is not centered on materialism or religious doctrine. Instead, the season of Advent offers a sacred pause, an invitation to slow down, observe and prepare inwardly for the return of light, both in the natural world and within ourselves. It offers us ways during the holiday season to hold reverence for life. It honors our desire to be connected with the natural world at a time when life speeds up. Advent holds a special place in the year for those seeking to live in rhythm with the season.
Celebrating seasonal festivals like Advent helps anchor children and us, in the rhythms of human life which have a deep relationship to nature and time. Children long for soul experiences filled with reverence for life itself as this makes living that much more meaningful. The mood of Advent that we create in our home can reflect what is happening in the natural world when we slow our pace down and invite quiet awe to fill moments in our day.
If Advent is new to you and you want to learn more about its meaning or celebrate it in your home, I invite you to continue reading.
The festival of Advent is marked by a four-week journey, with each week devoted to honoring a different kingdom of nature.
The First Week, we honor the Mineral World of stones, crystals, and the silent strength of the Earth upon which we live.
The Second Week, we honor the Plant World with greenery, evergreen sprigs, berries, and pinecones.
The Third Week, we honor the Animal World with woolen or wooden animal figures that burrow, nest, or brave winter’s cold.
The Fourth Week, we honor the Human Being with our inner light, our kindness, and our love.
This progression mirrors not only the outer world but also a child’s inner development. Each week another candle is lit, another mood evoked, another opportunity to notice the beauty and stillness of the world is experienced. By honoring nature in this way, children come to see themselves as part of a living, breathing world and that they are interconnected with all of life.
To begin, you’ll want to create a nature-inspired spiral outside of your home in a safe area. Make your spiral with evergreen branches, stones and pinecones or other treasures from nature which you collect with your child. At the center of the spiral, place an unlit single beeswax pillar candle on a wood stump. The pillar candle represents the return of the sun. You’ll then need to prepare a red apple for each family member with a candle set in the center of the apple.
Once the sun has set and after your family has enjoyed dinner together, put on warm layers and head outside for your spiral walk. Light the pillar candle on the wood stump and then give each child and adult an apple with an unlit candle that has been set in the center of the apple when it’s their turn to walk the spiral. Walk with your child if they are younger than nine or ten years old. Taking it slow, walk the spiral silently until you reach the center where the pillar candle is sitting on the wood stump. Once you reach the center, invite your child to light their candle, helping them if necessary, and then let them place it along the spiral as they walk out. Each candle that is lit and placed along the spiral slowly fills the spiral with light. This is an experience that leaves a lasting impression as it mirrors the soul’s journey into the darkness and back out again, but now transformed and shining. Walking the spiral on the first Sunday of each week will offer a powerful experience.
Advent is a time to engage in joyful activities with your children that cultivate anticipation. Here are some suggestions:
Bake spiced bread or cookies using seasonal spices that are warming like cinnamon and clove.
Make simple crafts like rolled beeswax candles, salt dough stars, or paint metal lanterns that you purchase from a craft store.
Read an Advent story or gentle nature-based stories that evoke wonder or awe.
Create a nature table on a table in your family room with stones, moss, greenery and include small figures as the weeks progress.
Focus on acts of kindness or service, like helping a friend or neighbor in place of gift-centered traditions.
Embrace silence or quiet time in the evenings.
Light a candle each Sunday and share a short verse.
Advent is also a time when we choose a verse to say or a song to sing that stirs our hearts and brings us into deeper connection with the season. These can be simple verses or songs about candles, light, peace, and the quiet of winter. It’s in these small moments that are repeated each day or week where we build memory and meaning for our children in a deep way.
Here is a verse that became an Advent ritual in my home. I sang it year after year at the dinner table with my children.
“One little candle lighted in the wreath.
The earth below, prepares to glow.
Two little candles lighted in the wreath.
The plants pop up, their blossom cup.
Three little candles lighted in the wreath.
The animals run, to greet the sun.
Four little candles lighted in the wreath.
The heavens they can, give light to man.”
— Unkown
What’s important to keep in mind is to not rush or pressure yourself to do things perfectly. Instead, see this as a time to slow down and connect with yourself and your children. In a culture that often equates the holiday season with busyness, screen time, and consumerism, these gestures remind us that the true preparation for a life that is full and rewarding first needs inward attention. I encourage you to carve out even just a moment of stillness each day when you slow down to give yourself and your children the gift of a soul nourishing sacred pause.
By Chinyelu Kunz
Joint Head of School