The Advent Wreath: Candle Meanings, Blessing and Prayers for Each Week

1. What Is an Advent Wreath?

An Advent wreath is a ring of evergreens with four candles that Christians light, one more each week, through the four weeks of Advent. On the First Sunday of Advent you light one candle; on the second, two; on the third, three; and on the fourth, all four. The growing light marks the time until Christmas and preaches a sermon without words: the darkness is losing, and the Light of the World is coming.

The wreath is a sacramental of the home, a custom the Church blesses so that families can pray together in the season. The Vatican's Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (2001) names the Advent wreath among the popular customs that help the faithful live Advent well. It is a devotion: it has no place in the Mass rubrics, and no Catholic is required to have one. Every Catholic family that has one knows why it is worth it. Children who forget every homily remember the nights the candles were lit.

The wreath belongs to the season of Advent, which in 2026 runs from Sunday 29 November to Christmas Eve, Thursday 24 December. For the meaning of the season itself, its feasts and a week-by-week plan, read our main guide to Advent 2026 for Catholics. This page is the complete guide to the wreath.

2. Where Did the Advent Wreath Come From?

The Advent wreath as we know it comes from Johann Hinrich Wichern, a Lutheran pastor and educator in Hamburg, Germany, who lit the first one in 1839. Wichern ran the Rauhes Haus, a home he founded in 1833 for poor and neglected boys. The children kept asking how many days were left until Christmas, so he built a large wooden ring the size of a cart wheel and hung it in the prayer hall. It held a small red candle for every weekday of Advent and a large white candle for each Sunday. Each day at prayer the children lit one more, until on Christmas Eve the whole ring blazed. Because the length of Advent changes, the number of candles changed from year to year.

According to the Hamburg historical museums, the ring was decorated with fir branches from around 1860. As families copied the custom at home, the many small candles gave way to four, one for each Sunday, and the form we know was born. The custom spread through Protestant Germany in the late nineteenth century. Catholic parishes in Germany took it up in the early twentieth century, German immigrants carried it to North America, and from there it spread across the Catholic world.

Is the Advent wreath pagan?

No. You will read online that the Advent wreath goes back to pre-Christian Germanic tribes who lit candles on wheels at the winter solstice. There is no solid evidence connecting those claims to the Advent wreath. The documented history begins with a Christian pastor teaching orphans to wait for Christ in 1839. People of many cultures have used evergreens and lights in winter, and the Church has always taken good human signs and filled them with Christ. Light in the darkness is a biblical image long before it is anything else: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness" (John 8:12).

Here is the lesson for you. The Advent wreath started because a pastor took children who had nothing and gave them something to wait for. That is what Advent is. You are the child in the dark asking how long. God's answer is a light that grows.

3. What Does the Advent Wreath Symbolize?

Every part of the Advent wreath carries meaning: the circle speaks of God's eternity, the evergreens of everlasting life, and the candles of Christ the Light coming into the world. None of this symbolism is set by Church law. It is the shared wisdom of Christian families, and it gives you plenty to teach and pray about.

The circle

A circle has no beginning and no end. It speaks of the eternity of God, who was, who is and who is to come (Revelation 1:8), and of his faithful love that never ends. It also reminds us that the Church year comes round again, and that every Advent is a new chance to begin.

The evergreens

Evergreens stay green through the dead of winter, so they speak of hope and of the everlasting life Christ brings. Families have traditionally attached meanings to particular plants: laurel for victory over sin, cedar for strength and healing, holly for the crown of thorns, pine and yew for immortality, pine cones for life and resurrection. These associations are traditional and vary from place to place, so use them as teaching tools.

The candles and the growing light

The four candles stand for the four weeks of Advent. Many Christians also see them as the long ages of waiting before Christ, as the prophets kept the hope alive. The light increases each week as the birth of Christ draws near, and the darkness around the table shrinks. Isaiah saw it: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone" (Isaiah 9:2, numbered 9:1 in some Bibles).

The colors

Violet matches the vestments of Advent and speaks of preparation, prayer and repentance. Rose is a lighter violet, the color of joy breaking through on Gaudete Sunday. White, used for the Christ candle, is the color of Christmas, of glory and of the risen Lord.

4. What Color Are the Advent Candles?

In Catholic tradition the Advent wreath has three violet candles and one rose candle. The Book of Blessings, the Church's official ritual for blessings, describes the wreath this way: traditionally three candles are violet and the fourth is rose, though four violet or four white candles may also be used. The colors follow the vestments: violet for the season, and rose for the Third Sunday, when the priest may wear rose.

Many people say "purple and pink." The liturgical names are violet and rose, but no one will think less of you for buying purple and pink candles at the craft store. What matters is that you light them and pray.

Which candle do you light first?

• Week 1 (from Sunday 29 November 2026): one violet candle.
• Week 2 (from Sunday 6 December): the first violet candle and a second violet candle.
• Week 3 (from Sunday 13 December, Gaudete Sunday): the two violet candles and the rose candle.
• Week 4 (from Sunday 20 December): all four candles.
• Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: all four, plus the white Christ candle in the center if you have one.

Arrange the candles so the order is obvious: going round the ring, violet, violet, rose, violet. The first candle burns every night for four weeks, so it burns down fastest. Buy a spare or start with a taller one.

Other colors you may see

German homes often use four red candles, a custom that goes back to the earliest wreaths. Many Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist churches use blue, as a color of hope and expectation. Some families use four white candles. Each is a legitimate local custom. For Catholics the violet and rose match the liturgy, and that link between home and altar is the reason to choose them. Read why the Church uses these colors in our guide to liturgical colors and their meaning.

5. What Does Each Advent Candle Mean?

The most popular names for the four Advent candles are Hope, Peace, Joy and Love, though these names are a popular tradition and appear nowhere in Church law or the Book of Blessings. The Church asks only that the candles mark the weeks. Families and parishes have filled them with meaning, and the meanings help children remember. Here are the two most common sets.

Hope, Peace, Joy, Love

• Week 1, violet: Hope. We wait for the Lord who keeps his promises (Romans 15:13).
• Week 2, violet: Peace. The Messiah is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Some churches swap Peace and Love.
• Week 3, rose: Joy. "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Philippians 4:4), the entrance antiphon of Gaudete Sunday.
• Week 4, violet: Love. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (John 3:16).

Prophecy, Bethlehem, Shepherds, Angels

• Week 1: the Prophet's candle, for Isaiah and the prophets who foretold the Messiah.
• Week 2: the Bethlehem candle, for the little town where he would be born (Micah 5:2).
• Week 3: the Shepherds' candle, rose, for the joy the shepherds were given (Luke 2:10).
• Week 4: the Angels' candle, for the angels who announced his birth (Luke 2:13-14).

Other families name the candles after the people of Advent: the prophets, John the Baptist, Mary and Joseph. Pick one set and stay with it, so the children learn it. The real meaning of every candle is the same: Christ is coming, and you must be ready. Meet the great prophet of the first candle in our profile of the prophet Isaiah.

6. The White Christ Candle

The Christ candle is a white candle placed in the center of the Advent wreath and lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to show that the Light of the World has come. The Christ candle is a later popular addition, found in neither Wichern's ring nor the Book of Blessings, and it is a beautiful one. After four weeks of violet and rose, the white flame in the middle says, plainly, he is here.

Light the Christ candle at Christmas Eve dinner or on Christmas morning, and keep lighting it through the Christmas season, which in 2026-2027 runs until the Baptism of the Lord on Sunday 10 January 2027. Many families also swap the four Advent candles for white ones on Christmas Eve, add red ribbon and holly, and turn the Advent wreath into a Christmas wreath for the dining table.

7. How to Bless an Advent Wreath

An Advent wreath is blessed once, on the First Sunday of Advent or the evening before, using the order for the blessing of an Advent wreath in the Book of Blessings. In a parish, a priest or deacon may bless the church's wreath at Mass or in a celebration of the Word. At home, the Church's household version of the rite says it is appropriate for a parent or another member of the family to lead the blessing. Lay leaders pray with hands joined; the gesture of blessing over the wreath belongs to the priest or deacon. In 2026, bless your wreath on Saturday evening 28 November or on Sunday 29 November.

You can also bring your wreath to the priest after Mass and ask him to bless it. Many parishes hold a blessing of family wreaths on the First Sunday. Either way, after it is blessed, the family simply lights the candles with prayer each day.

The household rite, step by step

1. Gather around the unlit wreath. All make the sign of the cross as the leader says: "Our help is in the name of the Lord." All answer: "Who made heaven and earth."
2. Read Scripture. A family member reads one of the passages the rite suggests, such as Isaiah 9:1-2, 5-6 (the people in darkness have seen a great light), or Isaiah 63-64 (rend the heavens and come down). End with "The word of the Lord." All: "Thanks be to God."
3. Pray the prayer of blessing. With hands joined, the leader prays the prayer below.
4. Light the first violet candle.
5. Sing one verse of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."

The prayer of blessing (Catholic household rite)

This is the prayer from the household form of the Church's rite, as published by the US bishops in Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers:

That last line, "May he come quickly and not delay," is the whole of Advent in one sentence. Mean it when you pray it. If your faith feels cold this year, pray it anyway. A blessed wreath lit by a tired parent with a half-attentive family is still a family turning toward God.

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8. Advent Wreath Prayers for Each Week

Pray a short prayer each night as you light the wreath: the week's prayer, a Scripture verse, and one verse of an Advent hymn. The four prayers below are original, written for this guide, and follow the Sunday Gospels of Advent 2026 (Year B). Many families also use the traditional collects of the older Roman Missal, three of which begin "Stir up" (in Latin, Excita), as in "Stir up your power, O Lord, and come."

Week 1: Hope (from 29 November)

Light one violet candle. Read Mark 13:33: "Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come."

Week 2: Peace (from 6 December)

Light two violet candles. Read Mark 1:3: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths."

Week 3: Joy, Gaudete Sunday (from 13 December)

Light two violet candles and the rose candle. Read Philippians 4:4-5: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. The Lord is near."

Week 4: Love (from 20 December)

Light all four candles. Read Luke 1:38: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."

From 17 December: add the O Antiphons

For the last week, add the O Antiphon of the day: O Wisdom (17), O Lord (18), O Root of Jesse (19), O Key of David (20), O Rising Dawn (21), O King of the Nations (22) and O Emmanuel (23). Each one matches a verse of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." Our Advent 2026 guide lists all seven with their Scripture.

Want a prayer written for your own family's situation, a new baby, a sick grandparent, a child far from the faith? Try our free Catholic prayer generator. For prayers made for little ones, see prayers for children.

9. How to Make an Advent Wreath

You can make an Advent wreath in under an hour with a ring base, evergreen branches, four candles in holders and a little wire. Make it the weekend before Advent, so it is ready to bless on the First Sunday. In 2026 that means the weekend of 21 and 22 November.

What you need

• A ring base: a wire wreath frame, a straw or foam ring, or a ready-made metal Advent wreath holder with four candle cups.
• Evergreen branches: fir, pine, cedar, boxwood, holly or laurel. Cut from your garden, ask a Christmas tree seller for trimmings, or buy a bundle.
• Three violet candles and one rose candle, tapers or pillars, plus a white pillar for the center if you want a Christ candle.
• Candle holders or spikes that grip the candles firmly.
• Florist's wire and wire cutters. Optional: pine cones, violet ribbon.
• A heat-proof tray or plate to stand it on.

Step by step

1. Fix the candle holders evenly around the ring, at the four quarter points. If you use a Christ candle, set its holder on the tray in the center.
2. Cut the greens into pieces about 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 inches) long.
3. Wire small bunches to the ring, all facing the same direction, each bunch overlapping the stems of the last, until the ring is covered.
4. Add pine cones or ribbon if you like. Keep everything flammable well away from the wicks.
5. Set the candles firmly in the holders in the order violet, violet, rose, violet.
6. Place it where the family eats or prays together, on its tray, away from curtains, shelves and anything that hangs.

Keep it safe

Fresh greens dry out in a heated house and catch fire easily. Mist them with water every few days, replace any that turn brown, and never leave lit candles unattended, even for a minute. Trim wicks short, use a snuffer, and keep a lid or damp cloth nearby. For small children, a student dorm or anyone who cannot have open flames, LED candles in the right colors work well, and the prayer is just as real.

No time to make one? Buy a simple metal ring and a box of candles. A plain wreath that gets lit every night beats a magazine wreath that sits dark on the sideboard.

10. How to Light the Wreath Every Night

The simplest way to use the Advent wreath is to light it every evening at dinner, pray the week's prayer, and blow it out when the meal ends. Some families light it only on Sundays, which is fine, but the daily lighting is what builds the habit and fills the season. Light the candles of the current week every day: one candle all of the first week, two all of the second, and so on.

A five-minute routine for families

1. Turn off the main lights. Darkness makes the point.
2. One child lights the candles (with help); another reads the Scripture verse.
3. A parent prays the week's prayer. Everyone answers, "Come, Lord Jesus."
4. Sing one verse of an Advent hymn.
5. Eat by candlelight. A third child snuffs the candles at the end.

Rotate the jobs so every child gets a turn, and let the youngest light the Christ candle on Christmas Eve. On 6 December, tell the story of St Nicholas at the wreath; on 8 December, pray a Hail Mary for the Immaculate Conception.

For singles, students and couples

A small wreath on your desk or kitchen table is a quiet witness and a daily appointment. Light it at evening prayer, read the next day's Mass Gospel, sit in silence for five minutes, and pray Maranatha, "Come, Lord" (1 Corinthians 16:22). Invite a friend or a neighbor over for one wreath night a week. Married couples can make it the one moment of the day when the phones go in a drawer.

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Common mistakes

• Lighting all four candles at once on the First Sunday. Let the light grow; the waiting is the point.
• Treating it as Christmas decor. The wreath is for prayer. Without the prayer, it is a centerpiece.
• Giving up after a missed night. Missed three nights? Light it tonight. Advent is for people who were not ready.
• Packing it away on 25 December. Add the Christ candle and keep it burning through the Christmas season.

11. The Advent Wreath in Church

Many Catholic parishes set up an Advent wreath in church, and the Book of Blessings gives guidance for it. The wreath should be large enough for the congregation to see. It may hang from the ceiling or stand on a stand, and if it is placed in the sanctuary, it must not get in the way of the liturgy or obscure the altar, the ambo or the presider's chair. The church's wreath is blessed once, on the First Sunday of Advent.

There is no required weekly rite for lighting the church wreath. Many parishes light the week's candles before Mass, and some invite a different family to light them each Sunday. The wreath does not change the Mass itself: the vestments, the omission of the Gloria and the readings are what mark Advent liturgically. The wreath helps the people see the season.

Want to understand what is happening at the altar while the wreath burns beside it? Read our guide to the Catholic Mass, and see the whole year of seasons on our liturgical calendar for 2026-2027.

12. Do Protestants and Orthodox Use the Advent Wreath?

Many Protestants use the Advent wreath, and the Orthodox generally do not. The wreath began among German Lutherans and is used today by Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians and many evangelical and nondenominational churches. Protestant churches often use the Hope, Peace, Joy and Love names, choose blue or all-white candles, and invite a different family to read and light each Sunday. In this case Catholics borrowed from Protestants, and gladly. A good custom that leads people to Christ belongs to the whole Church.

The Eastern Orthodox Churches do not traditionally use the Advent wreath. They prepare for Christmas with the Nativity Fast, a forty-day season of fasting, prayer and almsgiving that begins on 15 November. Some Eastern Catholic and Orthodox families in the West have adopted the wreath at home. Learn more in our guide to the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Whatever your church, the wreath asks the same question every night: if Christ came tonight, would he find you ready? Light the first candle on Sunday 29 November and answer it.