Christmas advent calendars are a lot of fun and they have got more and more creative in modern times. Miniature wine bottles, gins, chocolates and in our case, crystals, candles and jewellery. Just what are its origins though?
Advent comes from the Latin “adventus” meaning “coming” or “arrival”. So around Christmas, it is applied to the period leading up to Jesus Christ’s birth, which is celebrated on Christmas Day. Some people have fasted in this lead up to Christmas and many erect Christmas trees.
It is believed advent calendars originated in Germany about 250 years ago when people started marking their calendars with chalk, counting down to Christmas.
The more modern version began in around 1904 when the German newspaper Neues Tagblatt Stuttgart gave away advent calendars as a gift to their readers. In the 1920s Gerhard Lang introduced the innovation to add small doors to calendars. Simple advent calendars might reveal a bible verse or picture of the nativity. By the 1950s though chocolate advent calendars had become very popular.
The largest advent calendar according to the Guinness Book of Records was made in 2007, which measured 71 metres high by 23 metres wide! It was built at St Pancras station in London, to commemorate the station's refurbishment.
Most advent calendars start their countdown on 1 December, but we at Bewitched Crystals And Candles have introduced a twist and instead have a 12 Days Of Christmas advent calendar, because we love the Christmas carol! It also allows us to include better quality gifts inside, because we only need to plan for 12 and not 24 days/gifts!