Advent Calendars are popular today mainly for children however they have a fascinating history that most people don't know. Plus they add magic and fun for the whole family and make a great family tradition for the holidays. It all started long ago when the holiday celebration of Christmas was once marked off from December 1st with chalk on the doors of believers to count down the days to Christmas. Then in the 19th century came the birth of the Advent Calendar. According to the Austrian (NO) Landesmuseum, the year 1903 is the year of the first printed Advent Calendar. An Advent Calendar was inserted in the newspaper "Neues Tagblatt Stuttgart" in 1904 as a gift for their readers which started its popularity.

The first printed calendar 'sold commercially' was produced in 1908 by printer Gerhard Lang in Germany which consisted of miniature colored pictures that could be attached to a piece of cardboard each day in December. There are many writings about his memories and excitement as a child when his mother gave him on the 1st day of December twenty four small candies attached to a piece of cardboard. Each day with great joy he would take one from the calendar for that day building added excitement for the coming big celebration on Christmas day. He wanted to share this magic and joy with others.

Later on Lang introduced a calendar with 24 small doors. Unfortunately for him his firm went out of business in 1930's after creating around 30 different designs. Sankt Johannis Printing Company around the same time introduced the printing of Bible versus instead of pictures behind the doors.

At the beginning of the First World War when cardboard was rationed and only allowed to be used for strictly necessary purposes, the Advent Calendar came to an end. In 1946 rationing began to ease following the end of the Second World War. At this time a printer named Richard Sellmer once again introduced the colorful Advent Calendar and again it was an immediate success. Around 1958 candies and chocolates were added.

Originally Advent Calendars were based on 24 days with Christmas Eve as the last night to either put up a picture, read a bible verse or take a candy. Today, the traditional German calendars still show 24 days while it is not uncommon to find 25 day calendars in the United States with the last opening to occur on Christmas day.

In the USA, the Advent Calendar's popularity was credited to President Eisenhower who introduced it to his family and made it an annual tradition. World wide popularity is accredited to Richard Sellmer of Stuttgart Germany who resurrected the commercial Advent calendar. It was his company that started the comeback of Advent Calendars after World War II. It still runs today and has one of the biggest stocks of calendars in the world. They offer more than 110 traditional German designs at Advent-Calendar.com. Cadburys maintains an equivalent stock with over one million calendars available world-wide. Another popular site that is often sold out more than a year in advance is TheAdventHouse.com.

Advent Calendars today can be purchased as a three dimensional house or church but most popular are the ones that are usually the size of a large greeting card and hung on a wall. They are also popular as craft projects, gifts and many fabric and wooden calendars have become family heirlooms. In Dresden Germany at its 'Striezelmarkt' or Christmas market they have built a giant calendar made into a fairytale castle and is a popular Christmas attraction. Now you know a little about the history of a much loved tradition around the world.