The season
Advent 2026: the dates, and a simple plan for families
Advent begins on Sunday, November 29, 2026 and ends on Christmas Eve. Here are the dates that matter, and a simple way to keep the season at home.
The dates
- First Sunday of Advent: November 29.
- St. Andrew: Monday, November 30. Many families begin the St. Andrew Christmas Novena.
- Second Sunday of Advent: December 6. St. Nicholas falls on this Sunday this year, so keep his custom on the eve, December 5.
- Immaculate Conception: Tuesday, December 8, a holy day of obligation in the United States.
- St. Juan Diego: Wednesday, December 9. Our Lady of Guadalupe: Saturday, December 12.
- Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete, the rose candle: December 13.
- The O Antiphons, the Church's ancient countdown: December 17 to 23.
- Fourth Sunday of Advent: December 20. Christmas: Friday, December 25.
What Advent is
Advent prepares us for Christmas, when we celebrate the Lord's first coming at Bethlehem, and it turns our hearts toward his coming in glory at the end of time (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 524).
Its color is violet, the color of hopeful waiting. Rose appears on the third Sunday, when the Church says Gaudete: rejoice, the Lord is near.
A simple plan for families
Our Advent at Home guide gathers all of this into five to ten minutes a day.
- Light the wreath at dinner and pray a short prayer together.
- Read one Jesse Tree story a day, from Creation to the birth of Jesus: the family tree of the Savior.
- Make a good confession before Christmas.
- Keep the feasts of December: St. Andrew, St. Nicholas, the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe.
- From December 17, pray the O Antiphons together.