While Easter, not Christmas, lies at the heart of the whole mystery of salvation and is therefore the most important of all Christian celebrations, at the same time Christmas is, of course, inextricably linked to Easter. Initially Easter alone had a preparatory season assigned to it: Lent, but eventually Christmas developed its own, similar, preparatory season: Advent.
Today the similarities between Advent and Lent are plain to see: the liturgical colour is violet, the Glory is omitted at Sunday Masses, and both have a joyful Sunday a little over half-way through — Gaudete Sunday in Advent and Laetare Sunday in Lent. On these days, rose-coloured vestments may be worn in place of violet and the theme of joy appears in the liturgy.
