Christmas Traditions

Next on our Christmas traditions. 

Advent Calendars 

Another tradition originating in Germany, German protestants began marking the days of advent in the early nineteenth century either by marking walls or doors with a piece of chalk or by burning one candle for each day.

This evolved into hanging a devotional image each day which led to the creation of the first handmade wooden advent calendar.
In the early 20th Century the first printed calendars began to appear, and by the 1920s Gerhard Lang had developed a new innovation – the addition of small doors to these calendars.

Traditional pictures appeared behind these doors, and in some cases, short bible verses were added behind the doors.

It wasn’t until the late 1950s that chocolates were introduced to advent calendars and at the same time they began to spread around the globe. 

Today you can get Calendars in every shape, size and material. While I was shopping the other day, I saw Calendars for Cats and Dogs. Tell me what will you put behind a door for a Big Dog, I do not think a bone will fit.