Since I am interested in foreign cultures and YouTube is a good source for videos like “Expat tells about his/her experiences“, you can learn in such videos that it is not usual for non-Europeans to grow up with an Advent calendar. Some countries don’t even have something like an Advent calendar.

An Advent calendar is a container with 24 units containing small gifts for each day – from 1 December to 24 December. There are calendars to buy, with printed and pre-cut doors – labelled 1 to 24, in which you can usually find small pieces of chocolate or other treats. Alternatively, with the same principle, without sweets, with Christmas pictures or simply nice sayings, which typically go very well with the Advent season.

You can also make your own Advent calendar for your loved ones with small bags or boxes. There you put the little things in them and label them with numbers. The number 24 usually contains something special. After all, it is Christmas Day. By “something special“, we don’t mean a piece of dental floss or a bunch of broccoli, but something pleasant. For children, for example, a key for a small box in which a part of the Christmas present will be placed in the evening. The thrill until the evening becomes unbearable – or for adults, another little thing, a voucher for a meal or a special gift.

Anyone who grew up in a country, where it was customary to have an Advent calendar will probably have fond memories of the pre-Christmas season. No sooner have you jumped out of bed as a child and woken up your siblings as a result than they all run to their calendars full of expectation, from 1 December to Christmas Day. You excitedly look for the little right door for today and open the box with excitement. Then they compare with their siblings:

• The brother has a chocolate reindeer,
• The sister has a little chocolate star
• You have a snowman made of chocolate on that day.

While I’m thinking about the Christmas season, it occurs to me: are there actually rappers, –“rap musicians”– who make Christmas music? Gangsta rap for Advent time? Something like:

Well, it’s not unimaginable that some Gangsta Brothers also have something like pre-Christmas feelings. If you know more, please write it in the comments!

I wish everyone a happy pre-Christmas season!

• Wurst Advent calendar
• Weird Advent calendar
• Tea Advent calendar
• Gangsta Advent calendar