LESSON NOTES
Video Culture Class: British
Holidays #20
Advent
CONTENTS
2 British English
3 Vocabulary
# 20
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BRITISH ENGLISH
1. Hi everyone, I'm Gina.
2. Advent is the period that leads into Christmas. It is an important time of preparation
and expectant waiting.
3. In this lesson, you're going to learn about what Advent means in the UK.
4. Advent is an anglicisation of the Latin word 'adventus'. What does 'adventus' mean?
5. Well show you the answer at the end of this video.
6. Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year, or church year, and begins on the fourth
Sunday before Christmas so it always falls between the 27th of November and the 3rd of
December. The religious meaning behind the Advent period is to anticipate and prepare
for the Second Coming of Christ by anticipating and preparing Christmas.
7. The lighting of an Advent wreath is a common way to countdown to Christmas. The
wreath is made of evergreen branches and have four candles arranged around it. The
candles represent the four Sundays of Advent, and one candle is lit on each Sunday in
Advent. Often, there is a fifth candle in the centre and this last candle is lit on Christmas
Day.
8. Advent is also a countdown to Christmas for the non-religious as Advent calendars are
a very popular form of confectionary. These are a type of calendar that have a door for
every day of Advent. Behind each door is an item, usually chocolate, and people use
them as a countdown to Christmas. The chocolates are often moulded into the shape
of Christmas icons such as mistletoe and bells.
9. Advent is the time when Christmas preparations really move up a gear. Presents are
wrapped, trees are decorated and every town and city becomes Christmassy thanks to
decorations and illuminations.
10. And now I'll give you the answer to the earlier quiz .
11. Advent is an anglicisation of the Latin word 'adventus'. What does 'adventus' mean?
CONT'D OVER
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12. It means 'coming' or 'arrival'. Advent is literally the arrival of Christmas. In the past,
many loan words were anglified to make them easier for English speakers to understand.
13. How was this lesson? Did you learn something interesting?
14. Do you have any countdown periods in your country for any special days?
15. Leave us a comment at EnglishClass101.com. And we'll see you in the next lesson!
VOCABULARY
V oc abular y English C lass
the period leading into
Advent (British) Christmas noun
confectionary (British) sweets, chocolate noun
to mold (British) to form a shape verb
a plant with white berries,
mistletoe (British) traditionally used as a noun
Christmas decoration
to take more seriously, to
move up a gear (British) work harder on phrase
state of feeling like
Christmassy (British) Christmas adjective
converting something to be
anglicisation (British) more English noun
word for word, really,
literally (British) actually adverb
words taken from a different
loan words (British) language phrase
a calendar used to count
Advent Calendars (British) down until Christmas noun
to use something such as
to light (British) fire or electricity to illuminate verb
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to lead into (British) to go before, to show the way verb
waiting for something to
expectant (British) happen adjective
the arrangement of events
liturgical year (British) and festivals throughout a phrase
year in the church
the arrangement of events
church year (British) and festivals throughout a phrase
year in the church
Second Coming (British) the return of Christ to Earth phrase
a circular decoration made
from green plants and
Advent wreath (British) branches that is displayed noun
during Advent
backward counting to an
countdown (British) event noun
plants and trees that remain
evergeen (British) green all year around noun
to make something more
to anglify (British) English verb
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