The Date of Advent 2020

The first Sunday of Advent is Sunday November 29, 2020.

The Last Day of Advent is Thursday, December 24, 2020.

Dates of Advent 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

Sunday, November 29, 2020 is the beginning of the Advent season in the Christian Calendar.

 Advent is the period of time in the Liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church preceding Christmas. It is a time of spiritual preparedness so that we are ready to welcome the Christ Child into our lives.

Questions and Answers about Advent:

How long is Advent?
Advent can range from 22 to 28 days long. Each of the 7 lengths of Advent are represented equally (i.e. equal numbers of 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, & 28)

What is the longest possible Advent season?
Advent can be a maximum of 28 days long.

What is the longest possible Advent season?
The shortest possible Advent season would be 22 days long.

Why does the length of Advent change?
This is because Advent always starts on a Sunday and is a total of 4 Sundays. The day of the week for Christmas Day always changes and can be any of the days. However, Advent always starts on a Sunday. If Christmas Day is on a Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Advent will be as far from Christmas Day as possible. If Christmas Day were on a Monday, the 4th Sunday of Lent would be the day before Christmas.

What is the earliest and latest possible start dates for Advent?
The earliest possible start date for Advent is November 27th.
The latest possible start date for Advent is December 3rd.

Does the length of Advent change as much as the date of Easter?
Because both Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent) and the date of Easter are always on the same day of the week, the time between both is fixed. If you could every day from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday (inclusive), you get 46 calendar days. This is the case every year.

However, the actual date of Easter varies considerably. As we've seen, Advent can start on 7 different calendar days, whereas Ash Wednesday can occur anywhere from Feb 4 to March 10. That means there are 36 possible calendar days upon which Ash Wednesday can occur (this includes February 29).

(Random Side Fact: Ash Wednesday has never occurred on February 29, and will do so for the first time in 2096. Leap years were first introduced with the Gregorian calendar and thus a Feb. 29 Ash Wednesday has only been possible since 1582, but it hasn't happened yet).

Comments:
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