They are on the shelves of all supermarkets. Sunday 1is December 2024 will mark the start of a well-established ritual in a large number of homes: the opening of the Advent calendar. A tradition intended to keep children waiting until Christmas, it has become a real marketing object. Mainly composed of chocolates for decades, the Advent calendar today comes in all flavors: food products of all kinds, gadgets from major toy brands, cosmetics, luxury objects, virtual gifts…
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Religious origins
But who had the idea to create it? Before becoming a commercial pretext, Advent was above all a very ancient religious custom. This period, which normally begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, was established by Pope Gregory Iis au VIe century. “Advent, from Latin arrivalmeans “arrival”, that of Christ, explained the Swiss historian François Walter, co-author of the book Christmas, such a long story, in the evening edition in 2021. During this period, Christians prepare to celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ. In the past, Advent was a time of fasting, and considered a second Lent. » According to him, the principle of counting down the days before Christmas appeared later, with “the tradition of preparing the nativity scene: every day, the children added a new decorative element, for example a blade of straw.”
Coming from Germany
This counting ritual only took material form from the 19th century.e century, in Germany. But it is not yet a calendar with twenty-four windows to open. In German Protestant families, it was traditional to give children pictures every morning in the days leading up to Christmas. It was “small cards on which Jesus, Mary and Joseph or angels appear, and where short extracts from the Gospel are sometimes written. Sometimes accompanied by a little gingerbread, according to the weekly Christian news The Pilgrim . For Nadine Cretin, historian at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS), specialist in French festivals and traditions interviewed on France 3 these illustrations were not always pious and the tradition became “rather profane”.
No chocolate at the start
It was not until 1908, and still in Germany, that this informal tradition was commercialized in the form of an Advent calendar. It was Gerhard Lang, publisher of medical books in Munich, who imagined the first model with small colored drawings linked to a cardboard support. Other businesses got involved in 1920 and the idea began to become popular outside German borders after the Second World War. But chocolates were still not current, the first cocoa surprises hidden in the boxes did not appear until 1958. The principle of sweets became widespread with the flourishing growth of the chocolate industry.
A late arrival in France
The concept conquered French homes later. The 1970s saw them land on store shelves. And at the start, “They weren't as successful as in Germany. It was the Christians who did that, mainly the Catholics. underlines EHESS historian Nadine Cretin.
But since then he has been “entered the domain of disbelief and commerce”added in the evening edition in 2021 Patrice Duchemin, sociologist of consumption and author of the book The power of imagination. It allows to “putting time back into consumption: if Black Friday revitalizes the month of November, the Advent calendar establishes consumption over time”. And it's a wonderful marketing tool: “Every day, the consumer thinks about the brand, which creates a bond, an attachment. » The contemporary calendar has therefore only kept its name from its religious origins…
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Until December 24, play the Ouest-France “Advent Calendar”, many prizes are at stake. Click here to try your luck.
