Editing Advent wreath (section)

==History==
The concept of the Advent wreath originated among German Lutherans in the 16th century.<ref name="Colbert1996">{{cite book|last=Colbert|first=Teddy|title=The Living Wreath|url=https://archive.org/details/livingwreath0000colb|url-access=registration|year=1996|publisher=Gibbs Smith|isbn=978-0-87905-700-8|page=17|quote=It is believed that the European advent wreath began as a Lutheran innovation in the sixteenth century.}}</ref> However, it was not until three centuries later that the modern Advent wreath took shape.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mosteller |first=Angie |title=Christmas, Celebrating the Christian History of Classic Symbols, Songs and Stories|year=2010|publisher=Holiday Classics Publishing|isbn=978-0-9845649-0-3|quote=The first clear association with Advent is generally attributed to German Lutherans in the 16th century. However, another three centuries would pass before the modern Advent wreath took shape. Specifically, a German theologian and educator by the name of Johann Hinrich Wichern (1808–1881) is credited with the idea of lighting an increasing number of candles as Christmas approached.|page=167}}</ref>

[[File:Wichern Adventskranz originated from Germany.jpg|thumb|left|Advent wreath as designed by [[Johann Hinrich Wichern]]]]
Research by Mary Jane Haemig of [[Luther Seminary]], [[St. Paul, Minnesota]], points to [[Johann Hinrich Wichern]] (1808–1881), a Lutheran pastor in Germany and a pioneer in urban mission work among the poor, as the inventor of the modern Advent wreath. During Advent, children at the mission school ''[[Rauhes Haus]]'', founded by Wichern in [[Hamburg]], would ask daily if Christmas had arrived. In 1839, he took a large wooden ring from an old cartwheel and decorated it with 24 small red candles and four large white candles. One small candle was lit successively every weekday and Saturday during Advent, and a large white candle was lit each Sunday. The custom gained ground among Protestant churches in Germany and evolved into the smaller wreath with four or five candles known today. Roman Catholics in Germany began to adopt the custom in the 1920s, and in the 1930s it spread to North America. Haemig's research also indicates that the custom did not reach the United States until the 1930s, even among German Lutheran immigrants.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Mary Jane |last=Haemig |title=The Origin and Spread of the Advent Wreath |journal=[[Lutheran Quarterly]] |volume=19 |year=2005 |pages=332–343}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.medienwerkstatt-online.de/lws_wissen/vorlagen/showcard.php?id=4506 |title=Johann Hinrich Wichern – Der Erfinder des Adventskranzes |language=de |publisher=Medienwerkstatt |date=5 January 2008 |access-date=20 December 2011}}</ref>

In medieval times, Advent was a period of fasting during which people's thoughts were directed to the expected second coming of Christ; but in modern times many have forgotten this meaning and it has instead been primarily seen as the lead up to Christmas, and in that context the Advent wreath serves as a reminder of the approach of the feast.

In 1964, an Advent crown, made at home from wire coathangers and tinsel, appeared on the BBC's bi-weekly children's TV program ''[[Blue Peter]]''. This "make" became one of the program's most iconic features, repeated each year, and was the introduction of this tradition to most of the broadly Anglican audience.<ref>{{Cite book
  |chapter=An Advent Crown for Christmas
  |title=Blue Peter annual
  |publisher=BBC
  |date=c. 1970
  |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/bluepeter/valpetejohn/scrapbook/page1.shtml
}}</ref> In later years, the candles were replaced by [[Christmas bauble|baubles]], out of concern for fire safety.

More recently, some [[Eastern Orthodox]] families have adopted an Advent wreath with six candles, symbolizing the longer [[Nativity Fast|Christmas fast]] in Orthodox tradition, which corresponds to Advent in Western Christianity.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles6/ReardonAdvent.php |title=The Origins of Advent |first=Patrick Henry |last=Reardon |work=Orthodoxy Today |archive-date=13 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171113100648/http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles6/ReardonAdvent.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>