The first purple candle means: waiting The second purple candle means: hope The third purple candle means: joy The pink candle means: peace
The first purple candle means: waitingThe second purple candle means: hopeThe third purple candle means: joyThe pink candle means: peace.Catholic AnswerThe candles, and the Advent wreath itself, are NOT part of the liturgy officially, and are a common folk custom from northern Europe. The four candles were put on the wreath to signify the four Sundays of Advent. Three violet candles and one rose candle - for the color of the four Advent Sundays (purple and pink are NOT liturgical colors in the Catholic Church). The candles themselves have no meaning outside of what some have given them, they are not officially part of the church's liturgy and thus have no official meaning. Some people put a white candle in the middle to stand for Christmas, but this is wildly inappropriate as, thought not official, it is an ADVENT wreath, and Advent ends on the afternoon of Christmas eve.
There are typically four candles on the outside of an advent wreath, with an additional candle in the center that is lit on Christmas Day.
Three purple candles (1st, 2nd, and 4th sundays) and one pink candle. Purple represents waiting, and pink represents joy.
Purple candles do not burn faster than other colored candles. The burning rate of a candle is dependent on factors such as the material of the candle, the wick size, and the surrounding environment, not its color.
Candles are used in the following Christian celebrations ~During Christmas time, in the season of Advent, four candles are placed on a wreath. In the center of the wreath a larger white candle is placed. Each Sunday of advent, a new candle is lit, along with the previously lit candles. The candles on the wreath are, in a clockwise circle, purple, purple, pink and purple. The first candle is called the Prophets candle of hope, symbolizing the hope that was was portrayed when prophets announced Jesus' coming. The second candle is the Bethlehem candle of peace. This is symbolic of the peace in the town where Jesus was born. The pink candle is known as the Shepard's candle of joy, hence they were joyful when they were told of Jesus' birth. The last outer candle is the Angels candle of love, which describes the angels proclamation of Christs birth. The white middle candle is called the Christ Candle and is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
Actually, though the purple and pink candles are more common, there is a tradition that celebrates the advent season with gold, green, white, purple, and red candles. I'm not sure where this variation of the advent wreath originated, but I have seen it practiced in Baptist churches. In sequence the gold candle is for the prophets, the while candle is for the angels, the green candle is for the shepherds, the purple (sometimes a blue candle may be used) candle is for the magi, and the red candle is for the Savior.
They all symbolise different things: Here are the five candles and their symbolism: ; First Candle : Color: Purple Theme: Hope First Sunday in Advent ; Second Candle : Color: Purple Theme: Love Second Sunday in Advent ; Third Candle : Color: Purple or pink Theme: Joy Third Sunday in Advent ; Fourth Candle : Color: Purple Theme: Peace Fourth Sunday in Advent ; Optional Center Candle : Color: White Theme: Christmas Christmas Day
Here are the four common candles and their symbolism: First Candle Color: PurpleTheme: HopeFirst Sunday in AdventSecond Candle Color: PurpleTheme: LoveSecond Sunday in AdventThird Candle Color: PinkTheme: JoyThird Sunday in AdventFourth Candle Color: PurpleTheme: PeaceFourth Sunday in AdventOptional Center Candle, (not often used)Color: WhiteTheme: ChristmasChristmas Day
The first of the four candles - usually, sometimes there's a fifth "Christ candle" - is lit on the first Sunday of advent which can fall on any day between 27th November and 3ird December. On the next Sunday of advent the second candle is lit in addition to the first; so there would be two candles lit on the second Sunday.By the third Sunday the third candle is lit, with of course, the other two candles of the past couple of weeks. The third Sunday of advent is often quite soon before Christmas day itself, when the fourth and last candle is finally lit, amongst the rest.
Actually, there are three violet candles on an Advent wreath, not purple. The violet candles stand for the violet called for in the liturgy for those Sundays, the third Sunday of Advent calls for Rose vestments, so the candle for that week is rose.
The traditional advent wreath has four candles, one for each Sunday in Advent, three purple and one pink. Some more modern traditions (commonly Lutherans) use advent wreaths with four blue candles. If they are all the same color, it doesn't matter what order you light them in, so I presume you are asking about the tradional pink/purple candles. The candle opposite the pink candle is lit first, on the first Sunday of Advent (or the vigil service on the Saturday night before). There's no real rule about going clockwise or counter clockwise, as far as I know, but the second Sunday means lighting the first candle as well as a second purple one. On the third Sunday the pink candle is lit along with the previous two purple ones. On the fourth Sunday all four candles are lit. Many congregations and families also use a white candle in the center to represent Christ; this is lit on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.