On Friday 25 November, York Minster’s spectacular Advent Wreath will be suspended below the Minster’s Central Tower marking the beginning of the Christian festival of Advent and Christmas at the Minster.
The wreath is assembled around a vast and heavy three metre wide, metal ring with built-in channels to hold the water required to keep the foliage fresh. The structure also features five one metre high candle holders, representing the weeks of Advent.
It takes the Minster’s expert team of volunteer flower arrangers almost two hours to transform the metal ring into a beautiful abundant display, overflowing with fresh, evergreen winter foliage.
Once the wreath is complete, children from St Peter’s School York and Little Green Rascals Children’s Organic Day Nurseries, have been invited to the Minster to help Head Verger Alex Carberry, lift four one metre high candles into position on the wreath and watch as Alex lifts the fifth candle into its central position. The wreath will then be hoisted into position below the Central Tower.
The raising of the Advent Wreath is the pinnacle of the calendar year for our flower arrangers who work all year round to provide the cathedral with beautiful floral displays. Producing the Advent Wreath allows Head Flower Arranger Mandy Barker the opportunity to be creative with different seasonal foliage each year, producing a display which is vital to the Advent and Christmas festivities here at the Minster.
The first candle will be lit on Sunday 27 November (the first Sunday of Advent), and then on three successive Sundays with the final candle being lit at the Christmas Day Eucharist service. Each week, the clergy will film a short video which will be released across the Minster’s social media channels, to explain the significance of each candle of Advent. The candles will remain lit until the Feast of Epiphany on 6 January.
The raising of the Advent Wreath is the first event in the season of Advent and Christmas which celebrates the themes of anticipation, hope and joy. The beginning of Advent will be celebrated on Sunday 27 November with the cathedral’s atmospheric Advent Procession, illuminating the Minster in candlelight.
