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| Advent Calendar using the windows of Town Hall in the city of Hünfeld, Germany. |
One of my favorite Christmas Traditions is the Advent Calendar. I cannot remember a Christmas while I was growing up that we did not have an Advent Calendar to count down the days in December leading up to Christmas. Two years ago, when my oldest son was two, we decided it was time to start the tradition with him. My mother bought him a store bought Advent Calendar with chocolate pieces in the shape of Christmas items. It was quite a special event.
Now, before I go in to any more of my own family traditions, I want to explain a few things about Advent and Advent Calendars. Seeing as I am a history buff, you guys had to see that one coming.
While no one can pin point an exact beginning to the celebration of Advent (which is derived from the Latin word Adventus meaning "coming") there are many clues that allow us to block in a time period. We know that Advent was not celebrated before the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord was established in the late 4th century, which marks the end of the Liturgical Year for Western (Catholic) Churches. It was not until 590 that a Synod established a series of Lenten rite days from November 11th until the Nativity feast. It was under Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) that we see the first mention of Advent (a reference to the Second Sunday of the Advent) and by 650 the Spanish were celebrating Advent five Sundays at a time. During the reign of Pope Gregory II (1073-1075) the number of days was officially reduced to the four Sundays prior to Christmas.*
The Season of Advent is used to commemorate waiting and preparing. Both the waiting of the Hebrews for their Messiah and the preparing of Christians for the Second Coming of Christ.
Now, ironically, Advent Calendars have very little to do with Advent itself. Traditional Advent Calendars begin on December 1, regardless of when the Season of Advent actually begins (which is the fourth Sunday prior to Christmas - as early as November 27th). The origins of the Advent Calendar can be traced to German Lutherans, as far back as the early 19th century, physically marking the days of December until Christmas. The first evidence of an actual Advent Calendar was a Handmade Calendar in 1851. The first printed Advent Calendar was produced sometime between 1902-1908.**
Okay, that was as brief a history as you will ever get from me. Much of the history of the Advent Calendar explains my own family's use of it. My father was raised a Lutheran and many of my mother's ancestors are German Immigrants.
Now, let me tell you what I think of store bought Advent Calendars. I can say this without fear of insulting my parents because they have known for years what I think about the store bought variety: the chocolate tastes like plastic!!
So last year I decided that if my children were going to participate in this Family Tradition, I was going to make sure they got good chocolate. I also wanted to make sure they got a good sense of what the season was really about.
I made my own Wall Quilt Advent Calendar. You can pretty much use anything. I have a friend who bought 24 mini stockings and hangs them on the wall. Then you can put what ever kind of candy you want in them. (I of course use Hershey Kisses.)
Now, some where in the celebration of Christmas, Christ has been taken out of it. Most celebrations anymore are purely Secular, revolving more around Santa Claus than Christ. Don't get me wrong, I love Santa Claus. St. Nicholas was a real man, who loved the Lord very much and his deeds in the name of the Lord are known far and wide. However, it was not St. Nicholas, a Greek monk, that gave us reason to celebrate this Season.
To help my children understand why we celebrate Christmas, I decided to incorporate the Nativity Story in our Advent Calendar.
Starting with the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary and her visit to Elizabeth (Luke 1:26-55), we spend the first 12 days of December relating the Story of how Jesus' birth was foretold to Mary, who was a teenager and not yet married to her promised husband, Joseph.
We then jump to The Nativity Story (Luke 2:1-14) to spend the 12 days leading up to Christmas discussing the modesty that surrounded the Savior's birth. Of all things we must never forget that the Hebrews were waiting for a King to come in and slaughter the Romans and reclaim the land for Israel. They were not expecting a girl of modest means to birth their King in a stable. We are presented a picture of true sacrifice from beginning to end.
We, as a family, make sure that the Advent Calendar is hung is a place of prominence in our house so that we will be reminded every day that it is up that we are learning of the true meaning of the Season. The sacrifice of Mary and Joseph, the sacrifice of Jesus (the Man), and the sacrifice of God. All of these sacrifices were for our redemption.
Kind of humbling, don't you think?
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