A German Christmas
German Advent Calendar: Fact of the Day
1. Dezember - Der Adventskalender
Advent is the four-week period leading up to Christmas. The Advent season begins on the first Sunday after November 26 (Dec. 2, 2007). The German Advent calendar tradition goes back to the 19th century when children would draw Christmas pictures on 24 pieces of paper and hang them in the house. In the 1880s the wife of a German pastor crafted small Christmas boxes (Schachteln) for her impatient son to open on each day leading up to Christmas. Each box was filled with a delicious cookie and Gerhard was allowed to open one each day and eat the cookie inside. By 1903 or 1904, Gerhard Lang, as a partner in Reichhold & Lang in Munich, was manufacturing the first commercial illustrated Advent calendars (without cookies). The first calendars with fold-out windows appeared in 1920. Since the 1940s, Stuttgart's Sellmer Verlag has specialized in diorama calendars that display Christmas village scenes. The first chocolate-filled Advent calendars were being marketed as early as 1958.
December 1 is also the traditional starting day for many German and Austrian Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmärkte), although some open in late November, depending on the date of the first Advent weekend. See the December 2 Advent entry for more about Christmas markets.
Also see: Adventskranz (the Advent wreath)
WEB > Geschichte des Adventskalenders (Sellmer Verlag, Stuttgart - also see: Adventskalender Museum)
WEB > Der Adventskalendar (Calendar history in German)
BACK > Adventskalender
MORE > A German Christmas Guide
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