Victorian Christmas Tree Advent Calendar
History of the Advent Calendar The origin of the Advent Calendar can be traced back to the 19th Century. The first styles came from the Protestant area. So religious families made a chalk line for every day in December until Christmas Eve. The first known Advent Calendar which was made by handwork dates from 1851. Other early styles were the Adventclock or the Advent candle - a candle for each of the 24 days until Christmas, like todays Advent wreath. So in religious families little pictures were hang up on the wall - one for each day in December. An other tradition was to paint chalk strokes on the door, one per day until Christmas Eve. In 1902 a Christian Bookshop in Hamburg published a Christmas Clock which was very similar to that published 1922 by the St. Johannis printing company. (Dominik Wunderlin, lic. phil. Swizzerland). 1903 appears to be the year of the first printed Advent Calendar. In 1904 an Advent Calendar was inserted in the newspaper "Neues Tagblatt Stuttgart" as a gift for their readers. In the early days, Bible verses would often replace the pictures behind the doors. About 10.5 by 14.5 inches.