Sip the Season: Harney Tea’s New Advent Countdown

Read about the history behind Advent calendars and our first 12 Days of Tea Winter Countdown Advent Calendar.

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By Emeric HarneyDec 5, 20241 comment

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Among the questions we get every year from our customers, like “What’s the best way to prepare my tea?” and “Is there sugar in your Hot Cinnamon Spice tea?,” one of the most frequently asked questions has been, “When the heck are you going to create an Advent calendar?”

To help you sip the season, we’ve created the 12 Days of Tea Winter Countdown, our take on the traditional advent calendar. But before we dive into what’s behind this box’s doors, let’s explore the history of this special holiday tradition.

It All Started in Germany

Back in the 19th century, German Protestants started marking the days leading up to Christmas by doing things like marking doors or walls with chalk to count the days, or lighting candles, or putting straws in a nativity crib, or hanging up a devotional image each day. It is believed that the first known handmade, wooden Advent calendar was made in 1851.

But it wasn’t until the early 1900s when a German publisher named Gerhard Lang invented the printed Advent calendar. He was inspired by a memory of his mother sewing 24 cookies into the lid of a box and letting him eat one each day during Advent. Over the years, Lang and illustrator Ernst Kepler continued evolving the calendar, creating the first one with doors in the 1920s.

By the end of the 1920s, Advent calendars were extremely popular in Germany. During WWII, however, paper was rationed, and the Nazi party banned the printing of the calendars. After the war, however, Advent calendars started being printed in Germany again, and returning veterans brought them home with them to the U.S.

Counting Down Advent…or Days to Christmas?

You might be thinking, most Advent calendars start on December 1 and end on Christmas Eve…is that when Advent is? The answer is not really.

Advent dates back to the fourth century. The four-week period begins on the Sunday closest to the feast day of St. Andrew the Apostle, which is November 30, and lasts for the next three Sundays. The word “advent,” which comes from the Latin word for “arrival,” started to be associated with the coming of Christ. By the Middle Ages, Advent had become completely associated with Christmas.

Since the timing and length of the Advent season changes every year, based on which Sunday is closest to November 30, for Advent calendar purposes, it was practical to implement a set number of days – December 1 thru December 24 or 25 – allowing the calendars to be used again and again, season after season, or for a template to be easily reproduced.

A President and Some Chocolate

Back to post-WWII and the arrival of Advent calendars in the U.S. It wasn’t long before they became popular, due in part when a picture of President Dwight Eisenhower opening a calendar with one of his grandchildren ran in a national newspaper in 1953. For the next several decades, the calendars’ popularity increased.

And of course, it also didn’t take long before someone decided to tuck chocolate into the calendars. By 1971, Cadbury began producing chocolate-filled Advent calendars commercially. After that, corporations and individuals started getting inventive, first with Bible verses or small toys, and now with just about everything: wine, socks, pet treats, hot sauce, and more. You can find lots of little surprises behind Advent calendar doors.

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