Did you know that Johann Wichern (1801-1882) invented the Advent Wreath? He was born into an impoverished family outside Hamburg, Germany and devoted his life to missionary work among the poor. He started a home in Hamburg for neglected children living in the streets. The prevailing wisdom of the time herded children into large single-room, institutional orphanages. Johann designed his Rauhes Haus (Rough House) into family clusters of twelve children under the care of a minister-in-training overseer, with assistance from the Brotherhood of the Rauhes Haus, a volunteer group of caring Christians. By 1847, sixty-four “houses of salvation” had sprung up throughout Germany.
The children living in Rauhes Haus peppered Johann with questions about the approaching arrival of Christmas. He repurposed an old wagon wheel, set it on its side, and lined its perimeter with twenty-four candles, twenty smaller red candles representing each day of the week and four larger white candles to signify the four Sundays before Christmas. Johann read Scripture each evening to the children and lit another candle to mark the days until Christmas. The tradition spread to neighboring churches and the daily candles dropped out, leaving the four white candles of Advent. The advent wreath tradition migrated to North America in the 1930’s. Johann later took the job of reforming the penal system in Germany. He delivered an impassioned sermon over Martin Luther’s grave, calling Christians to join Christ’s mission to the poor and suffering, which came to be known as the “Protestant Manifesto.”
