An advent calendar, for those not already familiar with the concept, is a calendar with a door for each day in December up until Christmas. The name derives from the latin adventus, which means coming — the arrival, in this case, being the birth of Jesus.
Given how crazy the Japanese are for Christmas, I wasn’t very surprised to receive a very cute Christmas card from our friend Rieko in the mail today. The card is a fold-out advent calendar with a map of Japan on it. Each door is an important city or place in Japan and behind the door is a food or cultural item that that city or area is famous for.
One small problem though: the advent calendar has 31 days, one for each day in December. Apparently we’re no longer waiting for the coming of Christ with this calendar, but rather the coming of the New Year.
Maybe this is just a Japanese adaptation of a Western custom — New Years is a much bigger holiday here, traditionally, than Christmas — but since the calendar is entirely in English, I suspect some designer out there just didn’t fully grasp the concept behind an advent calendar. I’m guessing this experience could be a common one in Japan. Thank goodness I’m not a born-again.
unfortunately japan has not yet quite grasped the idea of christmas, i wouldnt be surprised if the calendar was actually for christmas, and they just didnt know how many days to add. there are many wierd customs in japan. last year in the town square near where i am they pinned a santa to a cross and lit him on fire! wierd, someone needs to tell them whats goin on!
Posted by: Patrick (believe it or not) at December 5, 2004 8:13 AM