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Today is the first Sunday of the Advent season, a time of preparation and expectant waiting. What are we waiting for? The god who comes. Advent means ‘The Coming’ and anticipates the birth of Jesus, which occurs annually in the liturgal calendar.

The color for Advent is purple because it is the color of penitence and fasting as well as the color to welcome royalty. It is also the color of suffering, and Christ’s birth cannot be separated from his death since Christians believe he was born for the purpose of dying.

True Blood is structured on the liturgical calendar, much like The Merchant of Venice. We’ve explored Sookie’s baptism and first communion occurred on a symbolic the Easter Vigil in ‘I Will Rise Up.’  Just as the liturgical calendar presents Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection as the backdrop to each individual believer’s faith journey, the backdrop for Sookie’s personal journey is the life of Christ. Before she ingested Eric’s blood, a Christ-like Eric offered himself as a sacrifice on an altar and ‘covered her’ when fell in a crucifix position after taking bullets meant for Sookie.

The Ascension was marked by Godric. Next in the liturgical calendar is Pentecost. It commemorates the day the Holy Spirit descended on the church and bestowed supernatural gifts to assist in the fulfillment of its mission. The most recognized gift was the ability to speak in tongues. This was marked in True Blood when Lafayette spoke words that belonged to someone else and received the same ‘gift’ that caused Ruby Jean to be institutionalized. Pentecost means fifty days, which is one reason Lafayette has started making a habit of wearing the number five. (His association with the Trinity is also noted by his fondness for fleur-de-lis.*) Pentecost marks the end of the liturgical calender. It starts up again in the fall with Advent.

Every which way you look at it, the thrid season of True Blood was a transitional season. In alchemical terms season 3 was the end of the negredo phase and the beginning of the albedo one. In romantic terms it was the end of Sookie and Bill and the beginning of Sookie and Eric. In liturgical terms, it was the end of the old liturgical calendar and the beginning of the new. It was Pentecost, but it was also Advent, the time of waiting and anticipating the coming of Amnesia Eric and the time when Christ, represented symbolically as Eric, comes to dwell with Sookie Stackhouse.

Purple was the color that dominated season 3, and for both Sookie and Tara, it was a time of fasting and penitence. Notably the last time Sookie was seen eating was in the season 2 finale and in the season 3 finale her plate was pushed away, untouched.

Sookie also abstained from vampire blood until Gaudete Sunday. This is the third Sunday of Advent, literally ‘Rejoice Sunday.’ The penitential nature of the season is lifted and replaced with joy in anticipation of the coming of Christ. This is when many Catholic families begin decorating for Christmas; some allow the children to open one Christmas gift on this day. At mass the purple vestments are replaced with pink ones and at home the pink candle is lit on the advent wreath.

Gaudete Sunday was marked in True Blood with Ruby Jean’s visit to La La, which precipitated his happy reunion with Jesus. Not only did Ruby Jean show up in pink Gaudete Sunday vestments, this episode was the beginning of the third quarter of the season, just as Gaudete Sunday is the beginning of the third quarter of Advent.

In keeping with the celebratory nature of Gaudete Sunday, it is also the episode Sookie broke her penitential fast. While she didn’t eat anything in this episode, it was the first time she had sex or vampire blood since season 2, and despite our feelings in the matter, it was a time for Sookie to rejoice in her reunion with Bill.

So…all this is to say, during this season of Advent, Christians wait in joyful hope for the coming of Christ. In True Blood the innocent babe is represented by Amnesia Eric. If I had more time, I’d talk about the nine months of pregnant anticipation that we are going through and how Amnesia Eric relates to the incarnation of Christ, the light in the darkness, the true Children of the Light and Children of Darkess, and the winter equinox, how Mary Ann’s obsession with fertility relates to Christmas, how Christ, as the god who came and will come again, is the antithesis of Dionysus, the god who never does, and how Arlene’s unplanned pregnancy is the opposite of the Virgin Mary’s joyous one and point out all the Marian imagery at Fangtasia, but that will have to wait for another time.

How fitting is it that that in preparation for season 4, True Blood will begin filming the first week in Advent? To help you count down the days to the god who comes, here is a True Blood Advent calendar.

*BobsGran first associated Lafayette as the third member of the TB trinity, which also includes Godric and Eric.