Also called Advent wreath, Adventskranz, Christmas wreath, holly wreath
An evergreen wreath is a ring of fir, pine, holly or ivy hung on the door or laid flat with candles through the dark of winter. Its circle stands for unending life, and the Advent wreath with candles lit week by week began with a Hamburg pastor, Johann Hinrich Wichern, in 1839.
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Take care: Dry evergreens catch fire quickly: keep real candles well clear of the greens, use a heat-proof base, and never leave them burning unattended, or use LED candles. Holly berries, ivy and mistletoe are poisonous if eaten, so hang wreaths out of reach of children and pets.
At the Rauhes Haus, his school for poor children in Hamburg, Johann Hinrich Wichern took an old cartwheel and set 24 small red candles for weekdays and four large white ones for Sundays, so the children could count the days to Christmas. Fir greenery was added later.
Uses: cartwheel, 24 small red candles, 4 large white candles
Many churches use three violet or blue candles and one rose candle for the third, joyful Sunday, sometimes with a white Christ candle in the center lit on Christmas Eve. British churches often use four red candles.
Uses: 3 violet or blue candles, 1 rose candle, optional white center candle
Before wreaths were common, British households hung holly, ivy and other evergreens indoors at Christmas, and the greenery was taken down by Candlemas. Holly was widely thought to guard a house against harm, and the carol pairs holly and ivy as symbols of the season.
Uses: holly, ivy, bay, rosemary
Bringing evergreens indoors in midwinter is old and widespread, since plants that stay green through the cold make a natural sign of life continuing. Medieval English churchwardens' accounts record payments for holly and ivy at Christmas, and in folk belief holly in particular was thought to keep harm away. The round shape of the wreath was later read in Christian terms as eternity and God's unending love.
The Advent wreath itself is modern. Research by historian Mary Jane Haemig credits Johann Hinrich Wichern, a Lutheran pastor and pioneer of urban mission work, who in 1839 set candles on a cartwheel at his Rauhes Haus in Hamburg. The custom spread through German Protestant homes, was adopted by Catholics in the twentieth century, and reached North America with German immigrants.
An Epiphany custom in which Christians write the year, crosses and the letters C, M and B in chalk above the front door. The letters stand for the Magi Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar and for the Latin blessing Christus mansionem benedicat, May Christ bless this house.
A pomander was a ball of scented paste, often carried in a pierced gold or silver case, that wealthy Europeans held to their noses to ward off disease and bad smells. Today the name usually means an orange studded with cloves and dried for Christmas, a home charm for warmth, welcome and abundance.
The feast of Saint Lucy on 13 December, once the longest night of the year under the old calendar. In Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia the eldest daughter, dressed in white with a crown of candles, wakes the household with coffee and saffron buns to carry light into the darkest time.
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