Is Advent a penitential season?

update: whoops, looks like somehow an old post surfaced on JA.com and I got confused.

What Jimmy observes about liturgical purple is still interesting, however:

I mean, what's with all the purple? One clue may be found in Wikipedia:

In the Roman Church the liturgical color of purple or violet is used in the liturgy. Often times the purple used is a darker purple (sometimes called "Royal Purple") whereas in Lent the color is often a reddish purple ("Roman Purple).

So maybe . . . just maybe . . . the purple in Advent is supposed to be a signification of the birth of a coming King rather than a sign of penance."

But seriously, how many parishes have separate shades of purple to destinguish between Lent and Advent? This is a useful confirmation that liturgical colors matter, and that liturgical details matter.

update: for those who wish to pursue this topic further, see Adam Schwend "Advent questions: Holy water, blue and Guadete Sunday".