A PREPARATION FOR CHRISTMAS

Advent lasts from 30 November, St Andrew’s Day, or the Sunday nearest to it, until Christmas Eve. As with all centuries-old traditions, Advent’s origins and meanings are vague and sometimes contradictory. It is not a festival, but a time of preparation for Christmas that can be spiritual, symbolic or material. Originally, it was a time of fasting and penance, and considered an inauspicious time to get married. In olden days, two dolls representing Jesus and Mary were taken around houses by poor women hoping for a halfpenny in return for a sight of these lucky Advent images. ‘As unhappy as the man who has seen no Advent images’, was an old Yorkshire proverb, because to miss them was considered an ill omen. The familiar Advent calendar, with its numbered windows or doors to be opened each day until Christmas Eve, probably started in Germany in the early 20th century and depicted religious scenes connected to the Nativity. They have become more secular, however, and feature any scene with opening doors or windows, behind which is invariably a daily treat; usually a chocolate. Others opt for reusable fabric pockets or wooden drawers rather than throwaway paper or plastic. Living Advent calendars, such as Askrigg’s, and Advent labyrinths, made with hundreds of tea lights, are some of the new traditions emerging, as is the reverse Advent calendar, which involves giving something away each day to a food bank or charity, rather than receiving a treat.