The holiday season is in full swing and advent calendars have become a beloved tradition for many families. As kids, we delighted in opening each little door, revealing a small piece of chocolate or Christmas image behind it.
But if you take a closer look at most advent calendars, you may notice something seems a bit off. Advent is defined as the four Sundays before Christmas. So why do nearly all advent calendars only contain spaces for 24 days, instead of 28 or more?
As a professional advent calendar printing manufacturer, anomalies like this pique my curiosity. I decided to do some digging into the history of advent calendars to solve this festive mystery.
Here’s what I uncovered about the gap between advent and advent calendars, and why it exists.
A Brief History of Advent Calendars
To understand why we have 24-day advent calendars, you first need to understand the origins of advent itself.
Advent marks the beginning of a new liturgical year for many Western Christian churches. The term comes from the Latin “adventus,” meaning “coming.” For Christians, Advent is a period of spiritual preparation leading up to the celebration of Jesus’ birth on December 25.
When exactly does Advent start each year though?
As I researched this topic, I realized that Advent is actually a floating holiday. It always begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day. So the earliest Advent can start is November 27th. The latest is December 3rd.
Since the first Christmas in the year 336 AD, Advent has ranged from 22 to 28 days long. The variation depends on which day of the week December 25 lands.
From Pagan Yule Logs to Family Devotionals
In the early days of Advent’s emergence, Germanic pagan groups would place a log on their hearth and allow it to burn for 12 nights of “Yule.” As the log slowly burned away, they’d carve notches to mark the arrival of each day.
When Christianity spread, the notion of counting down the days endured. Christians implemented similar practices like:
- Hanging 24 images or opening one Bible verse daily
- Lighting Advent candles with 24 markings
- Creating Nativity scenes and adding pieces of straw to the empty manger until Christmas Eve
Printed Advent calendars emerged in 19th century Germany with the rise of mass media. They typically aligned with the length of Advent and didn’t necessarily start on December 1.
That all changed in 1903 when Munich publisher Gerhard Lang created and marketed the first mass-produced Advent calendar.
His calendar consisted of two pieces of cardboard paper. One page had 24 attached Christmas symbols that kids removed day by day. The other was a “landing spot” board featuring numbered areas 1 through 24.
Lang standardized his calendar, intentionally omitting references to dates and specific Advent length. As the publisher realized he could sell leftover stock other years regardless of when Advent began.
So even way back then, business needs partially influenced why advent calendars diverged from actual Advent lengths.
Why Advent Calendars Settled On 24 Days
It wasn’t until around 1920 that the calendars we know and love emerged. Those featuring rows of little doors or boxes hiding surprises behind each one.
But early calendars with doors still tracked the Advent season itself, not a fixed December 1 start date. So at some point calendars switched their numbering to a standard 24 days. Which still begs the question…
Why Specifically 24 Doors?
The number 24 wasn’t randomly chosen. It ties back to the length of Advent in a liturgical calendar year.
I found that Advent can fall on the earliest date of St. Andrew’s Day, November 30. Count exactly 24 days from November 30 landing on December 24—and there’s the logic behind most Advent calendars today.
Standardizing to 24 days also made good business sense as mentioned. And 24 has other significant meanings for Christians:
- Hours in a day
- Number of books in the Hebrew Bible
- Number of Greek letters in the symbols “Α” (alpha) and “Ω” (omega) which represent God in the Book of Revelation
So settling on 24 accommodates practicality, commerce, and religious numerology.
Modern Variations Extend Beyond 24 Days
Despite most sticking to the 24 day norm, I discovered some brands now offer extended Advent calendars too.
For example, higher-end chocolate company Godiva makes a “12 days of Godiva” holiday calendar with 12 larger premium chocolates.
Godiva positions their product as something to enjoy once Advent ends, during the actual 12 days of Christmas. So theirs complements rather than replaces existing Advent calendars.
There’s also more flexibility with non-consumable versions.
Learning tool company Melissa & Doug makes childrens wooden Advent calendars containing ornaments to hang on a tiny artificial Christmas tree included behind the 25th door.
Since the focus is decorative versus eating daily treats, extending their product timeline poses no problems. Kids simply enjoy revealing ornaments leading up to Christmas Day.
Why Sticking to 24 Days Still Makes Sense
Though some companies now sell extended Advent calendars, 24 days persists as the golden standard across most mass market Advent calendars.
Retaining 24 doors likely relates to the retail principle of meeting established consumer expectations. When shoppers seeking an Advent calendar browse holiday displays, they anticipate seeing ones structured around 24 days.
Deviating risks confusing buyers who don’t understand the religious history behind Advent calendars. They just know 24 days is traditional and familiar.
There’s also the matter of balancing product marketability with materials cost control. Behind each door hides chocolate, toys, beauty products or other surprises to unpack.
That tallies up expense-wise. Limiting to 24 days helps keeps products affordable for consumers. It also maximizes profit margins for manufacturers.
The Takeaway: Tradition Trumps Precision
Sometimes tradition overtakes precision even if the background story becomes altered. That’s definitely the case when it comes to why nearly all Advent calendars contain 24 versus 28 or more days.
What originated as a creative solution allowing a publisher to reuse excess stock morphed into convention. Though some specialty Advent calendars now feature expanded date ranges again, 24 days remains the accepted standard for most.
We as shoppers expect to see it regardless of whether aligning precisely with Advent’s religious roots. And Advent calendar makers happily sticks to 24 in order to deliver what their customers want.
So while you may need to supply your own chocolate for December 25 onward, having an Advent calendar filled with festive little surprises is a beloved ritual for many.
Even if the number 24 originated more from commercial considerations than faith-based ones.
Hope you enjoyed digging into this holiday trivia with me! Please leave your feedback or any other fun facts around Advent calendars in the comments below.