Dallmann Confections
Although they may seem like just a typical Christmas commercial product, calendars have a long history of religious significance.
It would be easy to conclude that Advent calendars — typically with 25 compartments that reveal a treat, image or Bible verse, used to count down the days from December 1 to Christmas Eve — represent just another way in which the Christmas is ruined by commercialization. They have departed far from their origins as devotional aids to 19th-century German Lutheran families.
Far from just featuring small numbered tabs to open each day of December, these calendars are now highly sought after items. There are calendars of everything from beer to beard oil, and from Lego to luxury silk. But will completely lost their purpose?
As I recently mentioned on CBC’s The Cost of Living, I don’t believe it is.
From devotional instrument to consumer present
The first commercially printed Advent calendars, created by German publisher Gerhard Lang in the early 20th century, had paper windows that tore open. reveal Bible verses and Nativity illustrationsthe story of Jesus’ birth, as told in the gospels of Luke (2:1-20) and Matthew (2:1-12).
In the mid-20th century, Advent calendars spread across England and North America. Some versions began to include toys or chocolates and the minimize Christian themes.
Now, a full century after these first printed versions, Advent calendars have evolved into a dizzying array of “must-have” seasonal gifts that, in the luxury segment, can include caviar, cocktails and even cut diamonds. In response, some emphasize homemade, reusable Advent calendars, while villages and neighborhoods experiment with becoming “living” Advent calendars by revealing storefronts decorated by volunteers each day in December.
However, as non-religious as they may seem, as a student of the origins of Christianity, I see ancient meanings of Advent still reflected in two characteristics of current calendars: the creation of expectations and a sense of time filled with purpose.
The power of creating expectations
Expectation is what drives the appeal of the entire Advent calendar. The question from the child or the adult — “What’s behind the next window?” — echoes the original Latin term adventus, which means coming or arrival. To the question: “What awaits the world with so much anxiety in the season of Advent?”, the church’s answer has historically been: the coming of Christ.
But it’s complicated. What many Christians may not realize is that the coming of Christ, which the season of Advent was originally designed to mark, is the Second Coming, known as the “Parusia.”
The expectation for this goes back to the beginning, with Paul and the first followers. The oldest complete Christian text, 1 Thessalonians, vibrates with a kind of Advent anticipation. He is distressed by the late return of Christ to put an end to the march of time, abolish death and establish a new kingdom of God on Earth, full of justice and peace.
It’s not exactly material for a children’s calendar. To begin with, this Jesus was not expected as a meek and docile baby, but, at least by some, as a vengeful judge of the “end times” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).
In churches that still celebrate Advent, the readings on the first two Sundays are dedicated to a sense of “end times” and “ultimate meaning”with themes of surveillance and preparedness.
Countdown to last window
Another ancient feature of even the most secular calendar is its focus on purposeful time and a “great day.” There would be no Advent calendar without the biggest box or windowthe one that represents Christmas and contains the best Lego piece, chocolate, wine or image.
When Advent began to be celebrated in fourth-century Roman Gaul (present-day France), it was intended to be a penitential period of preparation, like Lent, culminating in baptism on the day of Epiphany. In the sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great shortened the period and focused more on Christmas.
Every Advent calendar, even those made with simple chalk marks in 19th-century Germany, begins with a “now,” builds energy and anticipation through a series of “not yet” days, and culminates with a “finally” — the long-awaited conclusion on Christmas Day. From the simplest hand drawing to the Craft Whiskey Advent Calendar from the Okanagan Distillery in Canada, there must be a division of time that leads to a climax.
Although the church liturgical year followed by the mainline Christian churches, including Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, United Churches, and Orthodox, is cyclical, the Advent period itself is resolutely linear.
A sample of hope and transformation
It was only after its emphasis on the end of the world that Advent began to focus on the stories of the birth of Jesusmore socially acceptable and less embarrassing from an eschatological point of view. But ancient themes persist stubbornly in readings from Isaiah that reflect the hopes of the ancient Israelites for a day when “the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fattened calf will feed together, and a child will lead them” (Isaiah 11:6).
Here is another similarity between today’s Advent calendars and those of the ancient Mediterranean. Some companies promote their calendars as “appetizers” or “proofs” of your complete product lines.
In a similar way, the ultimate goal of Advent is to serve as a “test” of a world where justice finally prevails, the poor can be satisfied, and peace reigns supreme.
