Advent, Advent...
"It's the most beautiful time of the year"
This Sunday, November 27, 2011, is the first day of Advent. Today in German-speaking Europe, and in German-American households, many families set up an Adventskranz or Advent Wreath on the first Sunday of Advent to start off the Advent season.
The pictures display a typical evergreen Advent wreath with its four candles, to be lit on each Sunday of Advent.
Traditional families gather around the wreath on each Sunday of Advent to light the next candle and sing German Weihnachtslieder or Christmas Carols. This was even more important in the past, when the German Christmas tree was usually reserved for a special unveiling only on Christmas Eve. Until then, the Advent wreath provided the evergreen look and aroma in the house.
As the little folk poem says
"...First one (candle) then two, then three,
then four - then Christmas is in front of your door"
and with that the end of the year is very fast approaching.
Advent, Advent,
ein Lichtlein brennt!
Erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier,
dann steht das Christkind vor der Tür!
You still have time to go out and buy that Adventskranz and also buy your children or grandchildren an Adventskalender.
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 the children delight in counting down the days to Christmas by receiving a piece of chocolate each day until Christmas.
