One of my best holiday memories is the gift of an Advent calendar. No, not as good as most home and family memories, but probably the start of my life long interest in learning about Christmas traditions in other countrys and the history of Christmas in America. I took mine to school with me, no one including the teacher knew what it was, but each day one of its cardboard doors or windows was carefully opened.
My Mom faithfully patched the weakening paper hinge of each door and window, it was a treasure, as well as a first, for us, back then in the middle 50s.
In the 19th century it was often German Protestants who made 25 chalk marks on their door or perhaps wall as a way of counting down to Christmas Day,and each day they would rub out one mark as a way of counting down the days. According to the German calendar maker Sellmer Advents-Kallender, who still produce advent calendars. Gerhard Lang , a printer from Germany is said to have been the first to produce an Advent calendar, although at about the the same time a German newspaper printed one for their subscribers as a gift. He was the first to print a cardboard calendar. In the 1920s,Lang printed a calendar which had little doors or windows with a number corresponding to the number of days until Christmas on them. When opened each revealed a different bible verse of Religious picture. This calendar was based on one his Mother made for him which has 24 colored images fastened to a piece of card board.
Though popular in Europe, the Advent Calendar didn't become widely accepted until Newsweek published a photo of President Eisenhower's grand children holding one in 1954. Though I cannot be sure of the exact year that is about the time I remember getting mine.
In later years the door opened to candy or small toys, but that was long after Cadbury, came out with it's version which had a piece of chocolate, behind each door.
In the United States, the popularity of the Advent Calendar didn't really take off until 1954, when Newsweek published a photo of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's grandchildren holding one.
And it wasn't until 1958 that the Advent Calendar's little doors began to have a small piece of chocolate, thanks to British chocolatier Cadbury.
Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty
The Advent Calendar has a rich history dating back to the early 1800s in Germany1. Here’s a brief overview:
Early Beginnings: The very first advent calendars were not the cardboard type we see today. Christians thought of different ways of counting down the days from the start of Advent to Christmas Day. At first, Christians kept track of the days by making chalk marks on their door, which were rubbed off one by one as Christmas got closer1.
Advent Candles and Pictures: Advent Candles and putting up a small religious picture to mark each day were other ways of counting down the days1.
First Actual Advent Calendar: The first actual advent calendar, which we still buy today, was produced in the early 1900s, although first mass-produced in 1908 by Gerhard Lang, who worked at the Reichhold & Lang printing office in Munich, Germany1. These calendars had 24 doors and were a lot better decorated than the advent calendars we have these days1.
Advent Calendar Chocolate: Before long, advent calendars had doors that, when opened, contained religious pictures, and some had chocolate in to keep the children’s attention1. This was proving to be popular over the years but had to be put on hold when World War II started because paper, cardboard, and chocolate were limited1. However, once the war was over, the production of advent calendars soon picked back up in 1946, not containing chocolates though1. Towards the end of the 1950s, chocolate advent calendars reappeared and started to spread across the world1.
Today, advent calendars are still very popular all across the world and now come in thousands of different varieties, some with just pictures in, others with just chocolate1. The religious meaning of the advent calendars has been lost, though1. Also, they don’t stop on Christmas Eve; usually, they have a bigger door for Christmas Day1.
