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ADVENT CALENDARS: GENGENBACH’S AND PENZEY’S
TODAY, DECEMBER 9 IS THE NINTH DAY OF ADVENT, beginning on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. Wikipedia notes, “The name comes from Latin adventus (‘coming; arrival’).” Here are tidbits about calendars announcing Advent, one at the German town of Gengenbach; the other, from my favorite purveyor of exotic spices.
Gengenbach’s “Magical” Advent Calendar. NPR, December 1, 2024, describes “The ‘Magical’ Advent Calendar That’s as Big as a Town Hall.”
Andrew Craig, Matthew Schuerman, and Eric Deggans write in NPR, “Advent calendars have become big business in the U.S. these days. Shoppers can easily spend upwards of $200 for calendars with samples of makeup and skincare products, or even gourmet cooking ingredients. [Indeed, see below here.]”
“But if you are looking for a larger-than-life Advent calendar,” the NPR trio suggests, “you better head to Germany, where the Advent calendar, after all, originated.”
Gegenbach, near Germany’s southwestern tip, turns itself into a giant Advent calendar each December. This and following images by Hubert Grimmig/Kultur- und Tourismus GmbH Gegenbach via NPR.
Each December its town hall is transformed into a massive Advent calendar, with curtained windows serving as the “boxes” to be opened on each day of the month. “It’s quite spectacular because everything gets dark and then we have a spot on the window and then it’s like a little bit of a curtain that goes up,” Michael Foell, of Gengenbach’s tourism bureau, explained to NPR. “Everyone is just watching with big eyes and mouths open.”
Gegenbach’s Advent Calendar Origin. NPR describes, “The tradition began in the 1990s. Gengenbach was primarily a summer destination at that time, and local businesses wanted to find a way to attract more visitors during the cold months. According to local lore, a few of the business owners gathered outside the town hall one night to discuss what to do. After a few glasses of wine, one of them said, ‘Oh, what: 24 windows. What can we do with that?’ “
What a perfect idea.
Weihnachten Celebrations. This is only one feature of the hamlet’s Christmas celebration: A traditional Weihnachtsmarkt is another as well as a special art display. NPR reports, “The art rotates each year. In the past the town has displayed reproductions of paintings by Marc Chagall and Andy Warhol. This year, Gengenbach is featuring the work of German illustrator Olaf Hajek.“
Illustration at Olaf Hajek’s website.
Weihnachten Recollections. All this rekindled thoughts of my own European Christmas Market visits. A touching memory: “To me a most moving aspect of Stuttgart’s WeihnachtsMarkt was a life-size crèche encased in plexiglass to protect it from the weather (and, alas, defeating my efforts to get a clear photo).”
Stuttgart’s crèche.
“The crèche’s plexiglass had a small opening, so kids could reach in and say hello to the baby Jesus. The kids, and their parents, understood the meaning of Christmas.”
A Spicy Advent. Contrasting with all this, but meaningful in its own way, is Daughter Suz’s gifting me a Penzey’s First Ever Advent Calendar. (Sorry, its website says it’s currently Out of Stock.)
As of today, my gifts packets include World’s Best Ground Pepper, Seasoned Salt, (Salt-Free) Mural of Flavor, Official Rainbow Spices, Cinnamon Sugar, Smoked Spanish-Style Paprika, Twilight’s Last Gleam, Frozen Pizza Seasoning, and BBQ 3000.
Penzey’s says, “Each day is sure to inspire you and your loved ones to cook up something good. Smiles guaranteed.”
Independent of all this Christmas cheer, Wikipedia writes “Penzeys Spices is known for promoting a liberal perspective and has an ‘About Republicans’ page on the company website that describes the party’s politics as ‘nonsense.…’ In 2024, presidential candidate Kamala Harris visited the Pittsburgh location, which garnered negative attention from Republicans.”
’Nuff said. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024
Simanaitis Says 
Super interesting. I’ve never been to Gegenbach. My wife and I visit Christmas markets every year here in Vienna. Starting around 15 years ago, Vienna banned commercial goods from the Christmas markets. Several around town are reserved only for local artists with handmade goods. Very special .
Note that in several places you forgot the second “h” in “Weihnacht” (and derivatives). E.g. Weihnacten -> Weihnachten
Ach! Corrected now. Vielen Dank! So much easier than running from drugstore to drugstore with an editor’s red pencil.
Especially considering how many drug stores you’d have to track down all around the planet!
On a similar note, relating to the US where commerce, not government, is king: as a kid, we always had to do the talk-to-Santa run into downtown SF to look at the massively decorated (not just with merchandise as would be there the rest of the year) show windows at the Emporium and Macy’s and City of Paris, and the huge Christmas treeS that filled the 4-story-high rotundas at Emporium and City of Paris n(now in Nieman-Marcus, though with all the store closings at Union Square, how much longer?) rotundas (I still don’t know how they got the trees in, though City of Paris rotunda was right off the street so it was probably simpler than Emporium’s which was in the middle of the building). Was most magical at night with all the special lighting at its best.
Then a run up to the Emporium roof (usually downtown, sometimes Stonestown; though there were only a few dressed-up show windows at Stonestown, parking was easier and there were more rides on the roof due to the larger footprint of the store building). The roof rides in both places were a tradition that lasted into the late 1970s, killed off by sale of the company to some conglomerate that ultimately went bankrupt itself. The buildings are still there, but not the rides or decorated windows.