Advent Candles - Pink and Blue and Purple and Red...Does it Matter?

You may be surprised how controversial the question of candle color can be! If you're a member of a "main line Protestant" or Roman Catholic faith community that marks Advent as a distinct season in the church calendar, you likely see an awful lot of purple candles. Purple is, after all, the liturgical color associated with Advent. In the United States an Advent wreath will feature three purple candles along with a single pink candle. We'll talk about that pink candle another time. Meanwhile, there are many folks who light “stacked” candles, burning one small portion of a tall candle for each of the 24 days in September. With all this global variation, does it really matter what color candle you use?

Many churches in the U.S. and around the world have begun to use blue candles instead of purple, in part to distinguish Advent from Lent. Lent has a distinctly solemn aspect, which isn't necessarily duplicated in modern ideas of Advent. Advent is associated with anticipation, preparation, and hope, as opposed to Lent’s focus on discipline and deprivation. Some churches likewise want to change the color symbolism expressed in the wreath (and, occasionally, also clergy vestments).

European churches will often feature red candles in wreaths, a tradition replicated in personal home observances. You see a lot of red and white in Scandinavian countries - and those are often stacked or numbered, not necessarily bound in the wreath-shape format at all. Then again, if you happen to be in Germany or any one of several Eastern European countries, you can buy ready-made Advent wreaths with all kinds of candle colors and shapes. Do you like yellow pillars or golden spheres? You're in luck!

Now, I'm no theologian, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say no, it doesn't matter what color candles you use in your family's Advent observance. Our goal is mindful and intentional preparation and anticipation, not running out to frantically find the "right" kind of candle. If you find yourself at the beginning of Advent with four white candles, use them. Light the candles you have and which are meaningful to you whether they're blue or purple or pink or gold. Light what you have if they're tapers or pillars or balls or votives.

If Advent is the first season in the church calendar Advent candles are literally our first illumination of the year. The most important thing of all is to light the light.