Advent in Prague

We have now entered the four week period of the year set aside as a preparation for the celebration of the incarnation, or the nativity. In the Latin west, Advent began this past weekend on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. The name is derived from the Latin root meaning “coming” or “arrival”. The early western church from the sixth century onwards had a period of six weeks of fasting and penitence before Christmas, certainly now forgotten in Old Town Square, Praha, where the vendors vie with each other to fill you up with “Old Praha Ham” and glu wine. The reduction to four weeks was a gradual development, but is…