As background, for both Catholics and Protestants, Advent begins the first Sunday after November 26. In German-speaking Europe, one of the key trappings of Advent celebration is the Adventskranz, which is a wreath you put on the table and to which you somehow associate four candles, one for each week of Advent. Starting the first day of Advent (today, in this case), you begin burning one candle, then you add another candle for each additional week. It is, admittedly, unclear to me if one must dispose of the unburned candles at the end of this festivity, or if somehow you burn them all out on Christmas day itself.
Anyway, I missed this entirely last year. So last week I convinced my neighbors to go Adventskranz and candle shopping with me and got a nice mixed bough kranz and the requisite four candles. Some people are really crafty and somehow situate the candles amongst the boughs, but I just see that as a fire hazard (plus I am not craft enough to figure out how to do that). So my four candles are in the center of the wreath and situated on a non-flammable bowl so that neither the flames nor melting wax will touch the boughs and create a fire hazard. We'll see how this works.
Anyway, happy Advent to the Adventists and all others celebrating the holiday season.
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