Christmas Advent

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Introduction
Advent
Christmas Eve
Santa Clause
Christmas carols
Christmas cards
Christmas Day
Boxing Day
12 Days of Christmas lyrics
12 Days of Chrismas meaning

Christmas food
Christmas pudding / mince pies

Directory entries:
Photo cards
Advent calendars
Puddings recipes
Stockings / stuffers
Artificial Christmas trees

Advent – December 1st

Advent is the official start of the Christian year and the run-up to Christmas itself. The event, as a celebration, originated in Germany though it is not a major event in the UK. However two of the traditions that have caught on are the Advent calandar and the Advent candle.

The Advent Calendar originated in the Protestant part of Germany where families would mark a chalk line for every day before Christmas, up until Christmas Eve. Commercialisation crept in, as it always seems to, and soon there were specific calendars created so that people could buy them and mark off the days until Christmas Eve. The first one known about was published in 1851.

Of course nowadays the advent calendar is a thin cardboard box with 24 doors in it, each of which usually has chocolate behind it in the shape of a traditional Christmas object. The calendars are often branded (The Simpson’s, Transformers and so on) and the trend of commercial one-up-manship has resulted in a specially large chocolate for Christmas day itself. And finally they have been extended to the end of the month and the New Year.

The original advent candle had 25 marks on it and it was lit each day to allow the next section to burn down. Another option was to have 24 candles, one for each night.

However as it is the tradition to have a service on each of the four Sundays before Christmas a different invention is the Advent Crown, based on the Advent wreath which was placed on a dining table in the house. Four candles are placed on the wreath and one lit for each Sunday.

The Advent Crown is a hanging decoration popularised in Britain by the BBC TV children’s programme Blue Peter made each year from two coat hangars, some tinsel and four jar tops (and candles).