Advent Calendar

P.L is one of my friends in high school. He’s half German so he knows many cultures and folklore from there. He hasn’t been to German for that long, but his parents made it so he would be culturally involved.  He’s also lived in the States and Taiwan so he’s multi-culturally diverse.

P.L told me about a tradition that people from Germany would use as folklore. Every December in Germany, the people would us an Advent Calendar instead of a regular one. These calendars would have treats in them, and as each day passes during December, you would be able to get one candy each day, but only until Christmas.

This tradition was done by every year, and P.L’s mom was the one who started it. P.L was very fond of this tradition because of the candies he received during Christmas. As a kid, he believed that Christmas or December was a time to be happy, and the candy encouraged this thought of it.

This tradition is heavily revolved around a Calendar. This Calendar can bring happiness during Christmas time and by adding only one thing. Candy, but candy each day. In a sense, this is a like reward system; everyone would “have” to be happy because they are getting treats every day in December until Christmas.

Personally, I never that there were a calendar just for a specific month. This is good thing in a sense that it reminds the people the significance of December and Christmas. The treats will definitely bring happiness to the family, and the celebration of Christmas should be a happy time, and with that I would think that this I also a folk celebration, only a different way to celebrate Christmas.