The Constantly Changing History of Advent
Hello,
It’s eleven days today until the bookshop launch of “Words Christmas Gave Us” and I’m looking forward to it, much like a child opening doors on an Advent calendar. Advent was one of those Christmas words I started researching for the book totally confident that I knew its history.
Nope. But did you know they can have 24 candles on some Advent wreaths or that Advent didn’t start with any connection to Christmas at all? No, neither did I. Here’s an extract from the book to whet your appetite. I hope you enjoy it.
Advent & Advent Wreath
{extract from “Words Christmas Gave Us” by Grace Tierney copyright 2024}
Advent joined Old English directly from adventus (arrival) in Latin which formed by joining ad (to) and venire (to come). By 1742 advent was being used in English to describe any important arrival.
Originally Advent didn’t relate to Christmas. It arose in Spain and Gaul in the late 300s as a period of fasting and prayer to prepare new Christians for baptism on the feast of the Epiphany in January and lasted for 40 days, inspired by Jesus spending 40 days in the desert preparing for his ministry.
Since then the duration of Advent has varied but has now settled on four weeks leading up to Christmas Day. This means all the Advent calendars you see in the shops are incorrect as they cover 24 rather than 28 days.
Advent calendars are particularly popular in Switzerland where in some villages each house takes a turn to be the Advent window for the day with decorations and an evening gathering for the villagers in their home that evening.
One of the first Advent calendars was made in Bavaria in 1908. It was a small card with a pack of pictures to be glued on each day. After World War II’s cardboard rationing, Richard Sellmer of Stuttgart took up the baton and with a U.S. patent in 1953 he became known as the General Secretary of Father Christmas and President Dwight Eisenhower was photographed opening one with his grandchildren. From 1958 the calendars began to contain chocolates and since then they’ve adapted for a wide variety of gifts from Lego sets to jelly beans, protein balls to alcohol. There are even luxury versions filled with diamonds.
The religious version of an Advent countdown is actually the Advent wreath. The form of the wreath apparently has its roots in the rituals of sun-worshipping tribes of northern Europe. Using evergreen foliage (symbolic of rebirth after winter) they created a wreath, added lights, and offered it to their deity.
Forms of this wreath survived until the 1500s in Germany where it was adopted by Christians and spread to Europe, Britain, Ireland, and North America. The Lutheran tradition has 24 candles but the most common version has five candles – one on each Sunday leading up to Christmas and the final one lit on Christmas Day.
The first candle symbolises hope and is purple, the second symbolises faith and is also purple, the third is for joy and is rose-coloured, the fourth is for peace and is purple, while the final one represents light and is white. Advent wreaths are lit in church but many also create one for their home.
{end of extract}
If you like Christmas words and stories, then you might enjoy “Words Christmas Gave Us”. It’s out now in paperback, hardback, and ebook and you’ll find all the ways to buy it here.
Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,
Grace (@Wordfoolery)
p.s. Want more Wordfoolery? Subscribe to the monthly newsletter “Wordfoolery Whispers”. Sign up to avoid missing out! Don’t forget to click on the confirmation email, which might hide in your spam folder. There will be a new issue later this week.
p.p.s. this post contains affiliate links which make a small payment to the blog if you choose to purchase through them. #CommissionsEarned. Alternatively, you can use my digital tip jar.
