saffron sunday and 1st sunday of advent

haris ibrahim had called on all to light a candle on this sunday (named as ‘saffron sunday) at 8.30pm in a show of support for all those under-privileged people.

well since this idea came about after the hindraf rally, for me i would say, in a show of support of the under-priveleged/marginalised indians who marched on 25 nov. AND all other marginalised people in malaysia. well i mentioned the indians who marched on 25 nov because i disagree with haris (and others) that the hindraf rally was racist and communitarian. read farish noor’s very well written article why. my simple not-so-well-articulate reason is that just because one group of people cry out for help/support, you don’t go and say, there are other groups that need help/support too, why should i help/support this group only/now when i should help all groups.

well anyway, this idea of everybody lighting a candle on this sunday at 8.30pm is a good one. so do read haris’s post on why you should do it, how you should do it, what you chould do after you do it, ya.

it’s a co-incidence that haris picked this sunday to ‘light a candle’ because it happens that to us catholics, this sunday is the first sunday of advent, where we will light the first advent candle.

what is advent?

to put it simply, by my definition, advent is the beginning of the church calendar year, and it consists of 4 weeks leading to christmas. to put it more complicated, read from wikipedia…

Advent (from the Latin word advenio, meaning "to come", "the coming of Christ our saviour") is a holy season of the Christian church, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, also known outside the Church as the season of Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western Christian year and commences on Advent Sunday. The Eastern churches begin the year on 1 September.

… and over here, you’ll learn more than what is advent.

why do we lit candles during advent? there are 5 candles arranged in a wreath – 4 candles (3 purple and 1 pink) represent the 4 sundays of advent and 1 white candle represent christmas (optional). read about the advent wreath here which also tells you the symbolism of the candles.