The Top 40 Traditions of Christmas: The Story Behind the Nativity, Candy Canes, Caroling, and All Things Christmas by David McLaughlan
Authors: David McLaughlan
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1
Advent Calendars
Who?
Early Advent calendars were homemade affairs costing nothing but time and imagination. With the increasing popularity of the tradition, inevitably someone would commercialize it. Hand-drawn calendars were in use as far back as 1851, but the first printed version was made by Munich printer Gerhard Lang in 1908. It came with twenty-four little pictures that could be fixed to the cardboard background. It took several years for the idea of covering the backboard with twenty-four little doors to be introduced.
Lang’s printing company went out of business twenty years later, but his idea survived and is now a popular part of the Christmas tradition.
What?
The first Advent calendars were simply ways of marking the passing days in the run-up to Christmas. People made chalk marks on their door in excited anticipation of the day the Christ child would come through it.
Gerhard Lang’s mother stuck sweet treats to a cardboard calendar each morning before he woke. The modern equivalent, which she inspired and he developed, has little boxes with chocolate figures waiting to be uncovered.
Some Advent calendars still have Christmas or faith-oriented scenes behind the chocolate treat, but, in a more secular age, they are often simply images of general celebration or pictures of the celebrities or animated characters endorsing the calendar.
Where?
Like many other Christmas traditions, the Advent calendar was a German invention. It is thought to have originated among Lutheran communities and spread to other churches in the area, but the tradition remained in Germany until the outbreak of World War II. Production of Advent calendars ceased during the war years. Afterward a German manufacturer reintroduced the Advent calendar to the world and helped make it an important part of the modern Christmas.
These days Advent calendars are sold and displayed in most countries where Christmas is celebrated. Being displayed by children from the first day of December, they are the first sign of Christmas in many households.
When?
The Advent season begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Day. Modern Advent calendars usually begin on the first day of December, with a compartment for that day and each of the next twenty-four. Perhaps in an effort to outsell their competitors, some manufacturers add an extra day for Boxing Day. Some even go as far as New Year’s Eve. Understandably, children tend to prefer the latter type!
The tradition of marking the days of Advent with some sort of calendar goes back to the beginning of the 1800s, but the period has been marked out as special in one way or another since the fourth century.
Why?
The Advent period has a triple-layered meaning in many churches. Sermons during the four weeks might refer to the time the Jewish people spent waiting for the Messiah or the time Christians spend in anticipation of the Second Coming. Overshadowing both of these is the simple, and very present, anticipation of the celebration of the birth of Christ.
Advent
or
adventus
is Latin for “coming” or “approaching.”
Advent calendars help renew the excitement of the period every day, with children rushing each morning to see what picture or sweet treat is hidden behind the next door, until Christmas Day arrives.
2
Advent Wreaths
Who?
The practice of making midwinter wreaths was popular in northern Europe in the centuries before Christianity arrived. The Romans, famously, made wreaths of laurel leaves for their champions and leaders. Other people groups made evergreen wreaths.
But it took some creative thinking by German pastor Johann Hinrich Wichern to associate the wreath with the Advent period and develop its Christian symbolism.
Pastor Wichern devoted his life to “home missions,” traveling all across Germany to establish Sunday schools, children’s homes, and rescue stations for the destitute. He
Advent Calendars
Who?
Early Advent calendars were homemade affairs costing nothing but time and imagination. With the increasing popularity of the tradition, inevitably someone would commercialize it. Hand-drawn calendars were in use as far back as 1851, but the first printed version was made by Munich printer Gerhard Lang in 1908. It came with twenty-four little pictures that could be fixed to the cardboard background. It took several years for the idea of covering the backboard with twenty-four little doors to be introduced.
Lang’s printing company went out of business twenty years later, but his idea survived and is now a popular part of the Christmas tradition.
What?
The first Advent calendars were simply ways of marking the passing days in the run-up to Christmas. People made chalk marks on their door in excited anticipation of the day the Christ child would come through it.
Gerhard Lang’s mother stuck sweet treats to a cardboard calendar each morning before he woke. The modern equivalent, which she inspired and he developed, has little boxes with chocolate figures waiting to be uncovered.
Some Advent calendars still have Christmas or faith-oriented scenes behind the chocolate treat, but, in a more secular age, they are often simply images of general celebration or pictures of the celebrities or animated characters endorsing the calendar.
Where?
Like many other Christmas traditions, the Advent calendar was a German invention. It is thought to have originated among Lutheran communities and spread to other churches in the area, but the tradition remained in Germany until the outbreak of World War II. Production of Advent calendars ceased during the war years. Afterward a German manufacturer reintroduced the Advent calendar to the world and helped make it an important part of the modern Christmas.
These days Advent calendars are sold and displayed in most countries where Christmas is celebrated. Being displayed by children from the first day of December, they are the first sign of Christmas in many households.
When?
The Advent season begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Day. Modern Advent calendars usually begin on the first day of December, with a compartment for that day and each of the next twenty-four. Perhaps in an effort to outsell their competitors, some manufacturers add an extra day for Boxing Day. Some even go as far as New Year’s Eve. Understandably, children tend to prefer the latter type!
The tradition of marking the days of Advent with some sort of calendar goes back to the beginning of the 1800s, but the period has been marked out as special in one way or another since the fourth century.
Why?
The Advent period has a triple-layered meaning in many churches. Sermons during the four weeks might refer to the time the Jewish people spent waiting for the Messiah or the time Christians spend in anticipation of the Second Coming. Overshadowing both of these is the simple, and very present, anticipation of the celebration of the birth of Christ.
Advent
or
adventus
is Latin for “coming” or “approaching.”
Advent calendars help renew the excitement of the period every day, with children rushing each morning to see what picture or sweet treat is hidden behind the next door, until Christmas Day arrives.
2
Advent Wreaths
Who?
The practice of making midwinter wreaths was popular in northern Europe in the centuries before Christianity arrived. The Romans, famously, made wreaths of laurel leaves for their champions and leaders. Other people groups made evergreen wreaths.
But it took some creative thinking by German pastor Johann Hinrich Wichern to associate the wreath with the Advent period and develop its Christian symbolism.
Pastor Wichern devoted his life to “home missions,” traveling all across Germany to establish Sunday schools, children’s homes, and rescue stations for the destitute. He
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