It’s not too late for the parade yet. Well, the tomato craft class at the Jexhof Farm Museum near Fürstenfeldbruck was already on Friday. There are now also suitable suggestions on the Internet, and that is practically a basic prerequisite for ensuring that the parade will not only have had a long past. There’s still a few days left. After all, it’s still not Advent.
While the church’s pre-Christmas period last year reached its possible maximum of 28 days, this year there is a lot of contemplation in the minimum 22 days. Regardless of the fact that, strictly according to the calendar, the first piece of chocolate is to be picked up from behind the door on the first of December: the fourth Advent is always the last Sunday before Christmas. As soon as the fourth light is lit on the Advent wreath, this year it is high time to light the Christmas tree or, better yet, just the Christmas tree candles or – even safer – to close the circuit with the light-emitting diodes.
In contrast to the usual countdown, after which things really start, an Advent countup with 24 doors and four candles is heading towards something that the former Lent before Christmas no longer has to offer for many: finally peace from everyone Shopping tours, company Christmas parties, early nativity plays, music school concerts, Advent bazaars and mulled wine excesses, after which some people are as busy as December itself. And this year’s is especially special. Choir singers and chamber musicians also rush from task to task.
Despite the name, a parade doesn’t help much. Quite the opposite: In Old Bavaria, such a tetrahedron with a real or stylized apple plus a candle on each corner was something like the predecessor of the Advent wreath, which was supposedly only invented in the 19th century by the Protestant theologian Johann Hinrich Wichern. But the candles burn relentlessly on both of them. Maybe at least the tomato crafting will slow down. There’s still a chance for a few days. The time is running!