01 December 2023 , 11:18
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Slowly eating our way through advent calendars is a staple of the festive season that makes the countdown to Christmas all the more delicious.
But why do we stop on Christmas Eve?
Advent is not just the name given to treat-filled calendars. It is also the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity, a season observed by most Christian churches in the Western tradition – including Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Escipopalians and Lutherans – that involves expectant waiting and preparation. The word "advent" is derived from the Latin word for "arrival" (adventus) and Advent anticipates the "coming of Christ" both in terms of his birth in Bethlehem as well as his later return to Earth.
And it is celebrated on four consecutive Sundays, starting with the Sunday closest to 30 November and ending on 24 December, Christmas Eve.
These days, an almost dizzying array of different Advent calendars are on offer (Handout)The Advent calendar is specifically a German Advent tradition. During the 19th century, German Lutherans helped their children countdown the days to Christmas by chalking another mark on the door with each passing day. The first printed Advent calendar was produced by German printer Gerhard Lang in 1908, though Adolf Hitler's attempt to take the Jewish-born Jesus Christ out of Christmas meant the Advent calendars of Nazi Germany during World War II were filled with swastikas and other militaristic imagery.
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Miraculously, Christian-themed Advent calendars survived the Nazi Germany propaganda machine and made their way stateside after the war. In 1953, the American magazine Newsweek featured a photograph of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's grandchildren smiling with a calendar.
The cynics among us will point out that Advent calendars have since become something of a marketing ploy, with brands only offering samples of their products on the basis that sweet-toothed children will later want to buy the full-size version using their Christmas money.
Irrespective of your religiosity, Advent calendars are all about anticipation – whether that be for the birth of Christ, or a chocolate-induced stomach ache.