Advent
Advent is the four-week “sacred standby” during which believers ready themselves for the birth of Christ while unwittingly preparing a feast of tinsel and credit card statements. Supposed to be a season of penance and contemplation, it has been co-opted into a pageant of commercial excess in which pine-scented candles burn alongside the flame of consumer debt. Participants light their Advent wreaths as they watch their bank balances smolder with equal fervor, performing an enigmatic dual ritual of faith and fiscal imprudence.