Advent Start Calculator

In Western Christianity, Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day. Because Christmas can fall on any day of the week, Advent starts between November 27 and December 3 inclusive — the earliest and latest possible first Advent Sundays on the Gregorian calendar.

This calculator finds the Sunday that is exactly four Sundays before December 25 in the given Gregorian year — the common Roman Catholic and Protestant rule used for planning wreaths, calendars, lectionary cycles, and parish music schedules.

Enter the default year 2026 and Advent begins 2026-11-29. Christmas 2026 falls on a Friday, so counting back four Sundays lands on the last Sunday of November. Each Advent Sunday after that moves one week closer to Christmas Day.

Western Advent spans four Sundays. The number of calendar days between the first Advent Sunday and Christmas varies slightly with the weekday of December 25 — Advent is not always exactly four weeks long in day count even though it is four Sundays in liturgical structure.

Orthodox churches observe a Nativity fast on a different schedule — this tool is Western Advent only. Eastern Advent/Nativity traditions do not use the fourth-Sunday-before-Christmas rule modeled here.

Pair with the Easter date calculator for Holy Week planning and the days-until-Easter countdown for a live view from today. Advent and Lent are separate seasons — neither date depends on the other. Valid years run 1583 through 4099 under the Gregorian calendar; historical dates before the reform are outside this scope. Many Advent wreaths light one candle per Sunday — knowing 2026-11-29 is the first Sunday helps you plan readings four weeks before Christmas without counting backward manually from December 25.

Retail "Advent calendars" that start December 1 follow a different convention from liturgical Advent, which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. This calculator uses the church calendar rule, not December 1 marketing boxes.