Several saints’ feast days also fall during the season, and their traditions have become part of many Advent and Christmas celebrations around the world, Ferrone said. St. Lucia and St. Nicholas ...

During Christmas celebrations in 18th-century England, men were allowed to kiss any woman standing under mistletoe, and if the ladies refused, that meant bad luck. Safe to say that’s a Christmas ...

Advent is a period of preparation for Christmas celebratedin many Christian faith traditions. Signaling the beginning of the church yearin most Western church traditions, as well as the beginning ...

This is our last column before Christmas, and I wish that you will have joy on Dec. 25, whether you celebrate that day as a religious holiday or not. So many people these days get fussed up over ...

During Advent and Christmas Christians acknowledge the need for a Savior and holly reminds them of this: the holly bough is one of St. John the Baptist's symbols; the Saint heralded our Lord's ...

From now until December 25, when the world will celebrate Jesus’ birth, the time is designated as the Advent season. While Christmas itself has several other symbols like the star, the Christmas ...

As we move through this time of Advent, and pre-Christmas, my various visits to church services and religious events have been instructive, mostly offering signs of Advent hope. Attending Clear ...

GIRM 39 "Advent has a twofold character: as a season to prepare for Christmas when Christ’s first coming to us is remembered; as a season when that remembrance directs the mind and heart to ...

Thanks to the inspiration of a retired priest, the Advent and Christmas message has been spreading around the world through the “Patiently Waiting Campaign” promoted by Blythe Kaufman from ...

The USCCB says Advent “includes an element of penance in the sense of preparing, quieting and disciplining our hearts for the full joy of Christmas.” ...

The four-week period will end on Christmas Eve and during these weeks in Churches, candles have been lit on the Advent wreath lighting the way for the coming of the infant Jesus.