HOPE - LOVE - PEACE - JOY
Advent Wreath
with the traditional four candles.
Advent was a special time for me back in 1954 when I was a child, still living in Germany. Different parts of Germany have different Christmas traditions so what you read below is all about my own family's Christmas traditions.
On St. Nikolaus day, December 5th, we'd put a carrot on the window sill as a treat for the donkey which carried St. Nikolaus and his friend and servant Ruprecht.
In the early evening, Ruprecht came rattling chains and carrying a sack of goodies or bringing charcoal to the bad children.
St. Nikolaus would sometimes come into your house and ask the children whether they had been good or bad. He always carried a bishops staff and asked his servant Ruprecht to find your name on the list of good and bad children.
Thankfully he only stopped at the neighbor's house where some unruly boys lived.
St. Nikolaus always left a plate full of apples, oranges and nuts, if you were lucky, cookies and chocolate too.
Advent was all about anticipation and reflection. The four Sundays before Christmas are called Advent Sundays.
I loved making the traditional Advent wreath from pine branches wound around a wire coat hanger.
Decorated with four red candles and red ribbon it was placed on our dining table. Some families hung their wreath from the ceiling by it's wide red ribbons.
On the first Advent Sunday at around four or five o'clock we would gather around the table and light the first candle. That's when we enjoyed the first homemade cookies of the season with a cup of tea, chocolate or coffee. Mom baked four to six different kinds of cookies every year.
My mom had a metal cookie wheel to roll across the sugar, butter and vanilla cookies to cut out different shapes. The egg wash on the cookies and a special star cut out became my job.
Painting by Thomas Kinkade
We listened to Christmas music on the radio or read Christmas stories. We talked about our Christmas wishes and the true spirit of Christmas.
Every Saturday we baked different cookies and made decorations for our home, like gold and silver stars to hang in the windows.
Friends were invited over for a Sunday visit and as Advent progressed another candle would be lit, until the last Sunday before Christmas all four candles were aflame.
Red apples and pine cones were all over the house, it smelled heavenly of pine, cookies and spices. Oranges spiked with cloves scented the air. We placed a couple of apples on top of our heater and it would warm up and shrivel the apples. A tasty winter treat. I'll never forget that taste and smell.
I remember my mother out in the yard with me, looking up into the evening sky turning red, declaring this was a sure sign that the little angels up in heaven were busy baking cookies for the holidays:)
Written by Rose H. copyright 2008
Images taken from www.wikipedia.org except for the image of the painting by Thomas Kinkade it is from <cite>www.kinkadecentral.com</cite>
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Comments: 33
I loved the baking cookies on Saturday - of course. And looking up into the evening sky, thinking of angels baking cookies - just charming!
This was really interesting. I loved the photos and the post itself.
I'm surprised by your Advent wreath pictures with the gold candles and the red candles. Very different from the traditional wreath with 3 purple candles and 1 rose candle for Rose Sunday, the 3rd in Advent.
I don't have room inside to place a wreath and the ceiling is only eigh foot high so hanging a wreath is out of the question too.
Every so often I try a combination of branches, but they just don't make it.
The traditional colors I knew were red, white, gold, purple and blue - these days people just use whatever color works with their home decor.
The one in our church was huge of course and I'm fairly certain it was red, but it may have been purple or white.
In none of the traditions have I heard or seen that one of the candles had a different color.
It was educational to read up on and I must say I had no idea that it was actually a relatively new idea from like 1840 to1880. The original wreath was just wood - with four big candles and something like the 19 small candles that William mentioned.
Later it became the wreath we know now and it was eventually embraced by the church too.
It may have been a German site I don't remember, but if you are interested I'll hunt it down again.
The apples on the radiator - did you eat them? You said something about the taste and smells.
My husbnd's family is German. His Grandmother made the cookie with the special embossing rolling pin - springerle cookies, right?
I really miss all of the traditions that I grew up with in my twelve years of living in Germany (eight in Bavaria and four in the north). I especially miss the Kristkindlmarkt in Munchen.
Oh how I love the gluhwein and everything there this time of year all until May when all of the harvest festivals are held. ;)
Some of the greatest memories of my life were spent there.
My mom just had a regular cookie cutter wheel for stars and trees and such.
Esther - I would love to see the Christkindl Market in Munich. I've been to the one in Nurnberg and it was great. The ones in our area are smaller except for the one in Frankfurt it is huge too. They've gotten too pricey and they are literally overrun and overcrowded.
Still it's cool to go and drink Gluehwein:)
We didn't leave the shoes outside, but I know they did in other parts of Germany.
thanks for posting to christmasmemory.gather.com
Lovely Christmas traditions to warm the heart Rose.
William - my area was devout catholic - it was just regional traditions which differed somewhat.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
I've only been in Germany late winter, early spring, but I wish I could be there at Christmastime.