The Holiday Season is a time of year when people look forward to Christmas. For many in the United States that period starts with Thanksgiving, which occurs the fourth Thursday of November. For many Christians that period consists of Advent, which is the period beginning the fourth Sunday before Christmas. Many Christians celebrate Advent by displaying and working their way through an Advent Calendar.
What is an Advent Calendar?
Advent Calendars are a method of counting down the days before Christmas. Many modern Advent Calendars are actually large card stock rectangles with windows (usually 24, one for each December day before December 25). One window each day will be opened as the month progresses toward Christmas. Behind each window is a picture, a Scripture verse, or a poem which will celebrate the season and point toward the much anticipated Christmas Day. Advent Calendars may be religious, secular, or a combination which features both religious and secular images. Most Advent Calendars are designed to be enjoyed by children.
But Advent Calendars are not always so simple, they can take many forms. Some consist of a series of small drawers, each of which contains a tiny gift or a sweet treat for the day. Some Advent Calendars involve one block placed on a growing stack each day ultimately forming a Christmas design. Some calendars resemble Christmas trees with a single ornament placed on the tree each day until the tree is fully decorated. Some calendars even look like an abacus, with a bead being moved from one side to the other each day. The common factor is the physical and visual counting down to The Big Day.
Another common practice with Advent Calendars is numbering the doors or drawers to be opened. The numbers are traditionally placed in reverse order, so that on December 1, with twenty-four days remaining before Christmas, door number 24 is opened. These numbers count down until Christmas Eve when the door marked 1 is opened. This last door traditionally conceals a more elaborate gift or design than those which precede it.
The History of Advent Calendars
Advent Calendars seem to have originated in Europe, probably among Lutherans in Germany, during the Seventeenth Century. Some historians point back to commemorations as simple as placing one chalk line on a door or board each day during Advent. By the early Nineteenth Century practices had become more elaborate. Some families hung a new picture on a wall each day, some lit a new candle. By 1851 formalized Advent Calendars were being produced. The card stock calendar that most people would recognize today was introduced in Europe in the early Twentieth Century.
Interestingly, the practice of using printed Advent Calendars was almost abandoned during the early 1940’s. Apparently in a move to reduce what was viewed as unnecessary paper use during World War II, commercial production of Advent Calendars ceased. It was not until sometime after the war the production resumed.
But Advent Calendars are not solely a commercial product. Many families make their own calendars, some producing a new calendar each year. Calendars are constructed, drawn, or sewn for use during the annual December countdown. Many calendar patterns are available in stores or on the Internet if a family decides to make its own.
So whether the goal is to simply prepare for the arrival of that “Jolly Old Elf,” to teach the story of the Nativity of Christ, or to take part in a daily meditation prior to Christmas, Advent Calendars play an important role in developing that Holiday spirit which is so important at this special time of year.
