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***image1***Germans observe special traditions during Advent, the last four weeks before Christmas. The word Advent comes from the Latin verb “advenare” which means “to arrive” and indicates the coming of Christ.
Lighting candles on the Advent wreath is one tradition. The first candle is lit the fourth Sunday before Christmas, which is Sunday. The original Advent wreath is made of fir tree branches decorated with four candles, fir cones, ribbons and little Christmas ornaments. Today, Advent wreaths of different shapes are made of different materials and placed in homes, stores, offices, public buildings and churches.
The history of the Advent wreath goes back to northern Germany in 1839, when Johann Hinrich Wichern, the founder of the Evangelist Home Mission and a juvenile home, created the first wreath made of wood and decorated with 24 candles, four big white ones for Sundays and little red one to be lit on weekdays.
Another tradition observed by children is the Advent calendar. Starting today, they open a door each day until Christmas Eve, when traditionally German children receive their gifts. The history of the Advent calendar is more than 100 years old. It was invented by a mother in Munich, whose son Gerhard, as soon as the first candle of the Advent wreath was lit, kept asking when Santa Claus would come and bring the gifts. Gerhard Lang’s mother had to think of something to make him understand when the waiting time is over. She designed a cardboard box and drew 24 squares on it. She explained to little Gerhard that each square means getting up once and going to bed again. She even sewed a cookie onto each square to sweeten up the waiting time. From then on, Gerhard’s mother had to design a calendar every year until she thought he was too old for it.
At the turn of the century, Gerhard Lang founded, together with a partner, a lithographic art publishing company. When business wasn’t good anymore, he remembered his mother’s idea and brought the “Munich Christmas calendar” onto the market in 1904. Its subtitle was “The 24 Waiting Days” and it was sold for 30 pfennigs (about 15 euro cents) in stationery shops.
Today, different kinds of Advent calendars are available – cardboard calendars, felt calendars with filled pockets, 24 bags hung up on a string or 24 little houses set up like a town.
The next pre-Christmas tradition is observed Wednesday and is known as “Nikolaustag,” or Santa Claus Day. Children will place their boots outside their rooms Tuesday night to have them filled by Santa Claus with candy, cookies, nuts, oranges and little gifts while they are sleeping.
The day is observed in honor of Saint Nikolaus, who was bishop of Myra, Asia Minor during the fourth century. Nikolaus was born around A.D. 270 in Patras.
As the patron of children, he is one of the most favored saints. Legend says he once restored to life three little boys who were killed by an evil innkeeper, cut up and preserved in barrels of vinegar. Nikolaus found them, put them together and after saying a prayer, the boys were alive again.
Saint Nikolaus is also known as patron of skippers, because he was able to calm down stormy seas and save sailors’ lives.
***image2***In another legend, Nikolaus became the patron of maidens. He saved three daughters of a poor family from becoming prostitutes because they did not have a dowry. One night, he secretly dropped bags of gold through their windows so the girls would be able to marry. Actually, he helped a lot of needy people by quietly giving gifts.
Nowadays, besides visiting families at home, Santa Claus also makes his appearance in kindergartens where he recites each child’s name out of his golden book and mentions if the child behaved well or not. The children have to sing him a song, before they receive chocolate and sweets.
Some children fear him because he might bring them a rod to let them know that they didn’t behave well throughout the year. But usually the rod is hung with sweets and is supposed to remind children of their bad behavior.
The costume of Nikolaus varies from place to place. In some German regions he is dressed like a bishop with mitre and bishop’s crook and is accompanied by “Knecht Rupprecht,” a shabbily dressed peasant who carries the sack of toys and treats, flourishes bundles of rods and threatens punishment to naughty children.
In the KMC, he appears mostly in a red robe and a peaked cap and has a long white beard. He is a friendly old man, who accepts children’s Christmas wish lists and asks children to promise to change for the better.
