Note 35 — Chapter IV · CHRISTMAS IN LITURGY AND POPULAR DEVOTION

The first mention of a season corresponding to Advent is at the Council of Tours, about 567, when a fast for monks in December is vaguely indicated. At the Council of Mâcon (581) it is enjoined that from Martinmas the second, fourth, and sixth days of the week should be fasting days; and at the close of the sixth century Rome, under Gregory the Great, adopted the rule of the four Sundays in Advent. In the next century it became prevalent in the West. In the Greek Church, forty days of fasting are observed before Christmas; this custom appears to have been established in the thirteenth century. In the Roman Church the practice as to fasting varies: in the British Isles Wednesday and Friday are observed, but in some countries no distinction is made between Advent and ordinary weeks of the year.{2}