It was that time again on 24 November. As every year, the Christmas lights in the City of Berlin West were switched on on the Monday after the Sunday of the Dead. From Wittenbergplatz to Rathenauplatz in Halensee, the streets are lit up in festive colours thanks to private donations. The Christmas lights appeal to an old longing of people - light in the darkness. The year is coming to an end, the days are getting shorter, darker, more inhospitable, harsher. Life shows its finite and harsh side. Some people feel increasingly disorientated and depressed. People feel physically and emotionally that they need light to live. And in many ways. In earlier times, before the invention of electricity, for example, the hours of daylight in winter had to be used intensively in order to get the work done on time. So it was good when the days gradually got longer again after the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year. The winter solstice marks the time of growing light. Now life becomes easier again. The time of passing is coming to an end. With the light comes the new growth and blossoming of nature, bit by bit.
Four candles on the Advent wreath symbolise the growing light
Western Christianity has linked the celebration of the birth of Christ with the date of the winter solstice. An old hymn sings of Christ as the "rising light from on high" (Luke 1, 78). Christians believe in this light: it illuminates the darkness, makes life brighter and allows new life to grow. To symbolise this, countless lights were and are lit during Advent, the darkest time of the year. The 19th century was particularly prolific in the invention of lighting customs. This was also when the culture of winter cosiness entered the stage.
The four candles on the Advent wreath symbolise the growing light - a further candle is lit every week. The idea probably came from Johann Hinrich Wichern, the founder of social welfare, who in 1839 made what was probably the first Advent wreath for the children in the Rauhen Haus in Hamburg. On Christmas Eve, the lights on the Christmas tree are lit (or switched on) in the middle-class living room and the family sings in an idyllic setting:
The lights are burning on the Christmas tree
how it shines festive, sweet and mild.
As if it were saying: want to recognise in me
Faithful hope's silent image.
The children stand with bright eyes,
The eye laughs, the heart laughs;
O happy, blissful delight!
The old look heavenwards.
In this song from the middle of the 19th century, the story of the birth of Christ is no longer mentioned at all. The light here symbolises the mood in the evening, the family, warmed hearts, love between people, longing and staging. Also in the 19th century, international export hits were invented in the Erzgebirge - revolving pyramids and candle arches, which have long since combined not only the depiction of the birth of Christ with candlelight, but also modern Christmas characters such as reindeer, Father Christmases etc.
In addition to candles, stars symbolise the light of Advent and Christmas. In the 19th century, the Moravian Brethren, a Protestant free church, created many-pointed stars that still light up countless windows today. All the stars are reminiscent of the one star which, according to the biblical account, showed the three wise men the way to the manger. This story shapes the Feast of the Apparitions on 6 January, the date on which the birth of Jesus is celebrated in Orthodox churches.
Consumerism and events or human longing?
At this point, one can formulate objections that are justified, but also have their limits: Firstly - yes: the unbelievable number of fairy lights, flashing Father Christmases, in short: the total winter illumination do connect to this symbolism, but in parts they also overstretch it. They originate mainly from the Anglo-Saxon-American world and are associated in many ways with ideas of consumption and events. However, the fact that they are so popular shows that they appeal to a human longing. And secondly - yes: in many countries of the global South, Christmas takes place in summer. The problem of darkness is not as prevalent here as it is in the wintery north. Many traditions are culturally influenced and are Western inventions. Nevertheless, the worldwide, ecumenical Christian community, despite all the serious differences, sees itself united in the belief in Christ as the "light of the world" (John 8:12), who came into the world to illuminate it.
The light of Advent and Christmas is thus associated with the seasonal, personal and socio-political hope of a turning point in time and the hope that the dark and hopeless will be banished, at least for a few hours, that darkened souls will be illuminated and hardened minds enlightened.
Author: Ruth Conrad, Professor of Practical Theology specialising in homiletics, liturgy and church theory