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An Advent calendar is used to count the days of Advent in anticipation of
Traditional Advent calendars feature the manger scene, Saint Nicholas and winter weather, while others range in theme, from sports to technology. They come in a multitude of forms, from a simple paper calendar with flaps covering each of the days to fabric pockets on a background scene to painted wooden boxes with cubby holes for small items.
Many Advent calendars take the form of a large rectangular card with "Doors", one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Eve (December 24) or Christmas Day (December 25). Consecutive doors are opened every day leading up to Christmas, beginning on the start of the Advent season for that year, or simply on December 1, as is the case of reusable Advent calendars. Often the doors are distributed across the calendar in no particular order. The calendar doors open to reveal an image, a poem, a portion of a story (such as the story of the
File:Richard Ernst Kepler - Im Lande des Christkinds.jpg, Advent calendar from ''Im Lande des Christkinds''. The doors contain Christmas poems. Images, from a cut-out sheet, were pasted over them.
File:Marianne Schneegans Adventskalender.jpeg, A 1946 Advent calendar by Marianne Schneegans
File:Schloss Hellbrunn zur Adventszeit.jpg, The 24 windows of the front of
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
. Since the date of the First Sunday of Advent
Advent Sunday, also called the First Sunday of Advent or First Advent Sunday, among the Western Christian Churches, is the first day of the liturgical year and the start of the season of Advent.
On the First Sunday of Advent, Christians start ligh ...
varies, falling between November 27 and December 3 inclusive, many reusable Advent calendars made of paper or wood begin on December 1; others start from the First Sunday of Advent and thus include the last few days of November that begin the liturgical season of Advent.
The Advent calendar was first used by German Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
s in the 19th and 20th centuries, and has since then spread to other Christian denominations.
Design and use
Traditional Advent calendars feature the manger scene, Saint Nicholas and winter weather, while others range in theme, from sports to technology. They come in a multitude of forms, from a simple paper calendar with flaps covering each of the days to fabric pockets on a background scene to painted wooden boxes with cubby holes for small items.
Many Advent calendars take the form of a large rectangular card with "Doors", one for each day of December leading up to and including Christmas Eve (December 24) or Christmas Day (December 25). Consecutive doors are opened every day leading up to Christmas, beginning on the start of the Advent season for that year, or simply on December 1, as is the case of reusable Advent calendars. Often the doors are distributed across the calendar in no particular order. The calendar doors open to reveal an image, a poem, a portion of a story (such as the story of the Nativity of Jesus
The nativity of Jesus, nativity of Christ, birth of Jesus or birth of Christ is described in the biblical gospels of Luke and Matthew. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judaea, his mother Mary was engaged to a man ...
), or a small gift, such as a toy or a chocolate item. Often, each door has a Bible verse and Christian prayer printed on it, which Christians incorporate as part of their daily Advent devotions.
There are many variations of Advent calendars; some European villages create advent calendars on buildings or even so-called "living" Advent calendars, where different windows are decorated for each day of Advent.
The Nordic Julekalender/Julkalender
In Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, there is also a tradition of having a ''Julekalender'' (Swedish: ''Julkalender'', Finnish: ''Joulukalenteri'', Icelandic: ''Jóladagatal''; the local word for aYule
Yule, actually Yuletide ("Yule time") is a festival observed by the historical Germanic peoples, later undergoing Christianised reformulation resulting in the now better-known Christmastide. The earliest references to Yule are by way of indi ...
—or Christmas—calendar) in the form of a television or radio show, starting on December 1 and ending on Christmas Eve (December 24).
Such a show first aired on radio in 1957 in the form of the Swedish radio series ''Barnens adventskalender
''Barnens adventskalender'' (''The Children's Advent Calendar''), broadcast at 7:55 each morning between 1 and 24 December 1957, was the first in what was to become an annual series of children's Yuletide programmes – '' Sveriges Radios julkalend ...
''; the first televised show of the genre aired in 1960 in the form of the Swedish program ''Titteliture
''Titteliture'' was the Sveriges Television's Christmas calendar and Sveriges Radio's Christmas Calendar in 1960. The radio version was called ''Barnens adventskalender'' (''"The Children's Christmas Calendar"'').
Plot
Every time, except for W ...
''. The first ''julekalender'' aired in Denmark was ''Historier fra hele verden'' in 1962. The televised ''julkalender'' or ''julekalendar'' has now extended into the other Nordic countries; in Finland, for example, the show is called ''Joulukalenteri''.
Over the years, there have been several kinds of ''julekalender''; some are directed at children, some at both children and adults, and some directed at adults alone. There is a ''Julkalender'' radio show in Sweden, which airs in the days leading up to Christmas. A classic example of a ''julekalender'' enjoyed by children (as well as adults, if purely for nostalgic reasons) is the 1979 Norwegian television show ''Jul i Skomakergata
''Jul i Skomakergata'' is a Norwegian TV-show for children, produced in 1979. It is a televised advent calendar, meaning it is broadcast from December 1 to December 24. It has been broadcast several times in Norway by NRK. The story revolves around ...
''; another is the 1990 Icelandic television show ''Á baðkari til Betlehem
''Á baðkari til Betlehem'' (English: ''On A Bathtub To Bethlehem'') is an Icelandic television series that first aired on Icelandic public television channel Sjónvarpið in December 1990. The show was the second televised advent calendar produc ...
''.
Image gallery
Hellbrunn Palace
Hellbrunn Palace (german: Schloss Hellbrunn) is an early Baroque villa of palatial size, near Morzg, a southern district of the city of Salzburg, Austria. It was built in 1613–19 by Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg ...
in Salzburg, Austria, used as an Advent calendar during the town's Christmas market
File:Adventkalender andrea.JPG, A home-made Advent calendar featuring presents
File:2014-12 12 Adventskalender St. Elisabeth (Essen-Frohnhausen).jpg, An Advent calendar consisting of images that have dates on the inverse side
File:Jul cal2.jpg, A Norwegian Advent calendar
File:Adventskalender im Bau.jpg, A home-made Advent calendar made from wood in the shape of a Christmas tree
File:Adventskalender am Rathaus. Stollberg. IMG 0831WI.jpg, Advent Calendar at the City Hall in Stollberg
Stollberg is a town in Saxony, Germany, in the district Erzgebirgskreis. It is situated 20 km east of Zwickau and 17 km southwest of Chemnitz. It was the site of the Hoheneck women's prison
Hoheneck Women's Prison (German: ''Frauengef ...
, Saxony
File:A few hours too early (4267111411).jpg, Two girls try to open the first door of an Advent calendar at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (in German: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, but mostly just known as Gedächtniskirche ) is a Protestant church affiliated with the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia, a reg ...
in Berlin.
File:Adventskalender.JPG, "Living" Advent calendar
File:Adventkalender AR.jpg, Advent calendar with presents as flaps, randomly arranged
File:Julkalender - 2021.jpg, Stand-up Advent calendar by Carlsen Verlag
Carlsen Verlag is a subsidiary of the homonymous Danish publishing house which in turn belongs to the Swedish media company Bonnier. The branch was founded on 25 April 1953 in Hamburg.
The publisher's program focuses on books for children, i. ...
, 1959
File:Diciembre.jpg, An Advent calendar featuring Santa Claus riding his sleigh
See also
*Advent candle
An Advent candle is a candle marked with the days of December up to Christmas Eve. It is typically used in a household rather than a church setting: each day in December the candle is burnt down a little more, to the mark for the day, to show t ...
* Advent wreath
The Advent wreath, or Advent crown, is a Christian tradition that symbolizes the passage of the four weeks of Advent in the liturgical calendar of the Western church. It is traditionally a Lutheran practice, although it has spread to many other ...
* Christingle
* Lenten calendar A Lenten calendar or Lent calendar is a special calendar used by Western Christians to count the days of Lent in anticipation of Easter. Lenten calendars traditionally start on Ash Wednesday and conclude on Easter Day. As with an Advent calendar, a ...
References
External links
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Advent Calendar Christmas in Germany German inventions Calendar History of Lutheranism Chocolate Calendars