This is the story I found at Wikipedia:
Johann Hinrich Wichern (1808-1881), a Protestant pastor in Germany and a pioneer in urban mission work among the poor, is widely credited with inventing the Advent wreath as a way to count the days of Advent as they moved towards the Christmas feast. During Advent, children at a mission school founded by Wichern would ask daily if Christmas had arrived. In 1839, he built a wooden ring (made out of an old cartwheel) with 19 small red and four large white candles. A small candle was lit successively every weekday during Advent. On Sundays, a large white candle was lit.
A friend (Miss Hanni from church) told me this story:
There was a pastor who used to work with poor people that couldn't read. He gave them food and stuff they needed.
So four weeks before christmas he used to put an advent wreath in his window so the poor people knew it was not a long time to have christmas. Each Sunday the pastor lit a candle and the poor people would know they were asked to come into the pastor's house to have dinner altogether.
Hanni told this story when we came together at the church building to craft some christmas decoration.
I made this advent wreath (I took it to my work place):
And Hanni gave me this one as a gift. It's on my livingroom table now.
No comments:
Post a Comment