Advent: 4 interesting facts about the season of waiting

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, November 27, 2022

Nativity fast

Candles burn in an orthodox church. | Getty Images

Although Christmas is generally associated with indulging in food, gifts, and desserts, during the Medieval period, it was actually a time for fasting and giving things up.

“Traditionally Advent was a time we would, like Lent, take part in penitential practices such as fasting and abstinence,” explained Monsignor Charles Pope in a 2013 piece.

“In most places, all animal products were strictly forbidden during Advent and Lent. There were many regional differences about the rest of the details. While most areas permitted fish, others permitted fish and fowl. Some prohibited fruit and eggs, and some places like monasteries ate little more than bread.”

Although the concept of a “winter lent” has largely left western churches, many eastern churches still observe Advent as a season for fasting from various foods.

“Advent is one of four fasting seasons in the Byzantine Rite, as it is also in almost all the other Eastern Christian traditions,” wrote Brian Butcher of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies.

“The faithful are invited to abstain from meat and dairy products for the duration of the season, as is the custom for Great Lent — although in practice the Nativity Fast is observed with lesser rigour.”