Card Feature: Advent Calendars

Advent is the four week period starting on the Sunday nearest Nov 30th (the feast day of St. Andrew) through the following three Sundays. It is believed to have been celebrated since the 4th century, and was originally a time for converts to prepare for baptism.

Modern Advent Calendars don't follow the period of Advent described above but start on Dec 1st in anticipation of Christmas. Most calendars have small paper doors to open every day that reveal an image related to the holiday, and more complex Advent calendars have drawers or pouches that hide a treat.

Gerhard Lang is considered the originator of the first printed Advent Calendar in the early 1900's. His calendar design was inspired by a childhood calendar his mother had made with 24 pictures that attached to a piece of board. Lang originated the little paper door that is the staple of most Advent Calendars we know today.

According to the Guinness World Records, the largest Advent Calendar was 232 feet and 11 inches tall, made to commemorate the reopening of the St. Pancras train station in London in 2007.

Visit Branches to see our vast collection of Advent calendar greeting cards from Roger La Borde, Sarah Curedale, and Cinnamon Aitch. Ours are not quite 200+ foot Guiness World record breakers, but they do fit in an envelope more easily.