This afternoon we had another delightful German class at Frau Enger’s home. We were greeted by her beautiful collection of Christmas ornaments, each with special meaning to her.
Today we learned about Advent and how advent calendars and candles are used to celebrate Christmas here. Advent is the four week season in the calendar when we anticipate the arrival, or “advent,” of Jesus of Nazareth, the long awaited Messiah and King.
Many families celebrate Advent with an Advent wreath that has 4 special candles, one lit each week before Christmas. Fr Enger showed us her wreath and then explained the history of this tradition.
A man named Johann Heinrich Wichern in Hamburg who created the first Advent calendar. He was a kind man who created a school to take care of orphan boys. During the holidays he was always pestered with the question, “How many more days until Christmas?”
In 1838, he took a cart wheel and put on it 4 large white candles for Advent Sundays and small red candles for weekdays. He hung this wheel in the prayer room of the orphanage so the boys could see in a glance how many days were left before Christmas as they lit one candle each day.
The original Advent wreath Wichern created is still in use today at the school. You can read more about him here or here.
When I was a little girl, my German father prepared a long tall red or green candle with a mark on the side every 1/2″ or so. Every night we got to burn the candle down to the next mark. We’d all sit around the candle and watch it burn as the wax melted and dripped down the tapered candle.
Then we learned about Gerhard Lang, who in 1908 published the first Advent calendars with little windows that opened. By the end of the 1930s, his publishing house had produced 30 different Advent calendars in 40 versions. Some had pictures behind the windows, some had chocolates, some had verses.
Fr. Enger then presented each of us with our own Advent calendar with little windows and chocolates so we can begin our own countdowns until Christmas.
Years ago, Fr Enger, her husband and their son made special Advent calendars like the one below to secretly deliver to neighbors and friends. They rode their bikes on the 30th of November in the cold and dark evening to put these special gifts on the doorsteps of friends needing a little Christmas cheer. She happily told us that even after several years, they were never discovered!
Another popular tradition here is sending an Advent card with tiny windows that open each day. Here are a few cards she showed us, received from friends:
We also learned about Saint Barbara, who is celebrated on the 4th of December. Here is her interesting and tragic story:
We finished our class by reciting this Advent poem. Children are often asked to perform some small talent on Advent Sundays. Now we are also prepared!
The words here mean, “Advent, Advent, a small light burns, first one, then two, then three, then four, then the Christ Child stands at the door.”
We love Fr. Enger and her kindness to us. Every week we look forward to her classes and all the beautiful cultural things she teaches us about Germany. She is so dear.
One more thing, mostly in honor of John:
Our Frankfurt Germany Mission 