Advent Songs for Lighting the Wreath: One for Each Sunday Before Christmas

The short answer

Advent 2026 starts on Sunday, November 29, three days after Thanksgiving. The four Sundays are November 29, December 6, December 13 and December 20, and Christmas Eve is Thursday, December 24.

At the wreath, sing one short song right after the candle is lit, the same song every week or a different one each Sunday. Here is the simplest plan that works for a family table, a Sunday school class or a small church with no organist:

If you only learn one song, make it "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel". It is the Advent hymn most people already half-know, and singing one more verse each week works as well as four different songs.

Who this is for

You bought or made a wreath and want the lighting to be more than striking a match in silence. Or you teach Sunday school and have five minutes with the class before the lesson. Or you are the volunteer at a small church who got asked to "do the Advent candle" this year and needs a song people can sing without a rehearsal.

The common problem is the same: the shops and the radio have been playing Christmas music since Halloween, but the wreath is about waiting. Advent songs are the ones written for that wait, and most of them are old enough that nobody needs sheet music for verse one.

The wreath in two minutes

• Four candles, one more each Sunday. The first Sunday you light one. The second Sunday you light that one plus a second, and so on, until all four burn on December 20.
• Colours. Catholic churches and many others use three purple (violet) candles and one rose (pink). The rose candle is lit on the third Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin for "rejoice". Some Lutheran, Methodist and Anglican churches use blue candles instead of purple. Some families add a white candle in the centre for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
• Themes. Many Protestant churches give each candle a word, most often hope, peace, joy and love, in that order. The Catholic Church doesn't assign official themes to the candles, and churches vary, so follow your own church's order if it has one.
• The blessing. In the Catholic tradition the wreath is blessed on the First Sunday of Advent or the evening before (USCCB). At home, a parent or the youngest child who can be trusted with a match usually lights it, often before dinner.

A typical home lighting is a short reading or prayer, the candle, then the song. Five minutes. The song is the part kids remember.

Week by week: what to sing and why

First Sunday, November 29: "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel". The Latin hymn Veni, veni Emmanuel, in John Mason Neale's 1851 English translation. Its verses come from the "O Antiphons", seven short chants sung in the days just before Christmas, each calling the Messiah by a different title. The tune came from a 15th-century French manuscript and was adapted by Thomas Helmore in 1854 (Hymnary.org). It is slow, it sits low enough for untrained voices, and the "Rejoice! Rejoice!" refrain gives kids a place to join in.

Second Sunday, December 6: "Prepare the Way, O Zion". The second and third Sundays usually bring John the Baptist and "prepare the way of the Lord" into the readings. This Swedish hymn by Frans Mikael Franzén (1812) says it in its first line (Hymnary.org). If your church doesn't know it, sing "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus" instead. Charles Wesley published it in 1744, and many churches sing it to the tune STUTTGART or HYFRYDOL, the "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" tune (Hymnary.org).

Third Sunday, December 13: "People, Look East". The rose-candle Sunday is the cheerful one, and this is the cheerful Advent carol. Eleanor Farjeon wrote it for The Oxford Book of Carols in 1928, to the French tune BESANÇON (Hymnary.org). Each verse has a line kids can shout back: "Love, the Guest, is on the way", then "the Rose", "the Bird", "the Star" and "the Lord".

Fourth Sunday, December 20: "The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came". In 2026 the Gospel for the fourth Sunday, in both the Catholic lectionary and the Revised Common Lectionary used by many Protestant churches, is the Annunciation (Luke 1:26–38), when the angel visits Mary. This Basque carol, in Sabine Baring-Gould's English paraphrase, tells that story (Hymnary.org). Sting recorded it as "Gabriel's Message", which is the version teenagers may recognise. The quieter alternative is "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming", a German carol first printed in 1599, with Michael Praetorius's 1609 harmony that choirs still use (Hymnary.org).

Christmas Eve, December 24. Light all four and the centre candle, and this is when the carols start. "Silent Night" is the obvious one.

Short songs for little kids and lay leaders

If a full hymn is too much, these are built to be learned on the spot:

• "Wait for the Lord", from the Taizé Community (1984). A two-line chant that is sung over and over, so by the third time round everyone has it (Hymnary.org). It is the easiest thing a non-musician can lead.
• "Light One Candle to Watch for Messiah", words by Wayne L. Wold, set to the Yiddish folk tune TIF IN VELDELE (Hymnary.org). Written for the wreath, one verse per candle.
• Verse one of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel", every week. Kids who sing the same verse four Sundays in a row know it by Christmas.

For under-fives, keep it to one verse and let them blow out the candle at the end. That is the part they will ask about all week.

Music for the rest of the week

The wreath takes five minutes on Sunday. If you also want Advent music on in the kitchen on a December evening, before you switch to Christmas music, these work:

• Handel's Messiah, Part One. The first part is the prophecies and the waiting: "Comfort ye", "Every valley", "And the glory of the Lord". It moves into the Christmas story near the end of Part One, so it fits right up to December 24.
• Bach, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61. A cantata Bach wrote in Weimar for the First Sunday of Advent and first performed on 2 December 1714 (Wikipedia). About 20 minutes.
• "Canticle of the Turning", Rory Cooney (1990). Mary's song, the Magnificat from Luke 1, set to the Irish tune STAR OF THE COUNTY DOWN (Hymnary.org). The one in this list people tap their feet to.
• Choir recordings of Advent carol services. Search for "Advent carols" with the name of a cathedral or college choir. Recorded services are a good way to hear which hymns go together.
• "Mary, Did You Know?" It shows up on almost every Advent playlist, and families who like contemporary Christian music will expect it on the fourth week.

Not every family waits. If yours has had Christmas music on since Thanksgiving, that's fine; keep the wreath song as the one Advent moment of the week.

If you're leading it at church

A few things that are different from the kitchen table:

• Performing religious music during a service is exempt. US copyright law exempts the performance of religious music "in the course of services at a place of worship or other religious assembly" (17 U.S.C. §110(3)).
• Printing or projecting the words is a separate question. Many old Advent texts are in the public domain, but a modern hymnal can contain a newer translation or arrangement that isn't. Churches usually cover reprinted and projected lyrics with a CCLI Church Copyright License.
• Livestreaming is separate again. The exemption above covers the service in the room, not the stream. CCLI sells a Streaming License as an add-on to the church license for that (CCLI Support). Ask whoever runs your church's licenses before you put an Advent lighting on YouTube.
• Use the church's own sound system and music source. Consumer music apps, including ours, are licensed for personal listening. Use the app at home to learn the tune, not as the church's sound system.

This isn't legal advice; your diocese, denomination or CCLI can confirm what your church's licenses cover.

Learning the tunes in Trending Music

Trending Music is our app, so weigh this section accordingly. It's useful for the week before, when you or the kids need to hear a hymn a few times before you lead it.

1. Make an "Advent" playlist with the four wreath songs in Sunday order. Search for the first song, tap the ••• on its row (or press and hold the row), choose Add to Playlist, then New Playlist, type the name and tap Create. For every song after that, choose Add to Playlist and pick the playlist under Your Playlists.
2. Pick a plain recording. Search the title with "choir" or "hymn". A congregation or choir singing verse one at a steady speed is easier to learn from than a modern arrangement with a long intro.
3. Turn off Autoplay in the app's Settings, then Playback. When a playlist ends, Autoplay keeps similar music going, which is how "Jingle Bell Rock" ends up following "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel".

One honest catch. The free version of Trending Music is supported by ads, and it can show a full-screen ad when a new song starts. That's fine while you practise. At the wreath, sing it yourselves, or use Premium, which removes ads. The playlist plan works in any music app.

When does Advent start in 2026?

Advent 2026 begins on Sunday, November 29. The four Sundays of Advent are November 29, December 6, December 13 and December 20, and Advent ends on Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24. The First Sunday of Advent is always the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, so it falls between November 27 and December 3.

What song do you sing when lighting the Advent wreath?

There is no single required song. "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is the most common, and many families sing one more verse of it each week. Other popular choices are "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus", "People, Look East" for the third (rose) candle, and the short Taizé chant "Wait for the Lord".

Which Advent candle is pink, and when is it lit?

On a wreath with three purple candles and one rose (pink) candle, the rose candle is lit on the third Sunday of Advent, called Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin for "rejoice". In 2026 that is December 13.

Can you sing Christmas carols during Advent?

At home, yes. It's your house. Many churches, especially Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican ones, save the Christmas carols for Christmas Eve and sing Advent hymns in the weeks before. If you are leading music at church or in a church school, ask the priest or pastor what they prefer.

Before November 29

Get the wreath and four candles (check the colours your church uses), pick one song, and play it a few times during the week before so the first lighting isn't the first time anyone has heard it. Put a lighter or long matches somewhere the kids can't reach but you can find in the dark.

The same December has other music moments. If your street or your youth group goes door to door in the last week, Christmas caroling songs everyone knows has a set list and which lyrics you can print. If your family or parish hosts a posada between December 16 and 24, Las Posadas songs covers the song for asking for shelter and the piñata. For Christmas Day itself, the best Christmas songs is sorted by moment.

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