29/09/2026
We are bringing in real Xmas tree wreath (Nordmanntanne) every Christmas and here is itβs history.., π²
The Advent wreath was invented for children in a home for the poor, and the original had twenty four candles on it.
Johann Hinrich Wichern ran the Rauhes Haus in Hamburg, taking in children off the street. In 1839 he was being asked the same question every single day through December, which was how much longer until Christmas, so he took a cartwheel, fixed candles round it and lit one more each day.
Twenty small red ones for the weekdays, four large white ones for the Sundays.
It spread out of that house across Protestant Germany, then Catholic Germany, then everywhere, shrinking on the way to the four Sunday candles most people know.
It reached America with German immigrants and sat in Lutheran churches for decades before the rest of the country took it up.
So the thing on the table is a teaching aid for children who could not wait.
Did you have one, and who was allowed to light it?