Wednesday, December 1, 2021

The Fifth Candle


Advent wreaths traditionally have four candles; mine has five, although there were even more initially.

Wichernkranz (©Wikipedia/Fretwurst)
Here is the first Advent wreath conceived by Johann Hinrich WichernRead the full story here.


There is a charming nursery rhyme. My translation follows the German principle for poets, "Reim dich oder ich fress dich (Rhyme or I will eat you):"

Advent, Advent, ein Lichtlein brennt,
Erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier,
Dann steht das Christkind vor der Tür.

Doch Witzbolde dichteten weiter:

Und wenn das fünfte Lichtlein brennt,
Dann hast'e Weihnachten verpennt.
Advent, Advent, a little light is burning,
First one, then two, then three, then four,
Then Christ Child will knock on the door.

Funny people continued:

And when the fifth candle is shining,
You blew Christmas; you are whining.

That will not happen in my case. When I bought the Advent wreath, I noticed a loose candle in my bag at the checkout. The cashier asked, "Do you want to change the wreath? "

Well, I was in a hurry; my streetcar was not waiting, so I mumbled, "No, thank you," and left, ready to fix the loose candle later myself.

In the streetcar, I checked that the wreath had its four candles all right, but there was another fifth. I had an idea on the way to my daughter at the Katharinenstift.

She will not have a tree in her room for Christmas, so I will light the fifth candle for both of our joys on Christmas Eve.

P.S: A faithful reader made me aware that in a Lutheran tradition, Advent wreaths have four candles on the ring but an added fifth candle in the center. It is called the Christ candle to be lit at Christmas.
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