PAGE 16 ADVENT CANDLE HOLDERS
● In December 1937, writer Åke V Ström complains in the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet that Christmas has become too commercialised. Instead of going to church, people are spending money on superficial things, he says:
“The Christmas and Easter industries have long been significant. Now advent candle holders, window star lights, feathered branches and Pentecost lilies are finding their way into more and more homes.”
In the 1920s and 30s, the Christmas candle holder wasn’t yet the given part of Swedish traditions as it is today, although it was gaining popularity. Above all, stearin candles, which had previously been reserved as luxury items for the rich, had now become so cheap that even ordinary people could afford to buy them.
By the mid-1940s, the candle holders are available in everything from mail order to department stores.
The advent candle holder is an almost exclusively Swedish tradition, although it can be found in Finland, especially in the Swedish-speaking parts. Keeping a candle lit in church all through Christmas night to keep dark forces out is an old tradition in Sweden, but just like many other Christmas customs, the advent candle holder is thought to have stemmed from Germany. That is from where the advent tree with 28 candles was borrowed in the 1870s, of which seven candles – one for each day of the week – were lit every Sunday until Christmas.
According to Kerstin Åberg of Upplands Museum, the oldest information on lighting a candle every Sunday dates back to 1896. It was the then Archbishop Nathan Söderblom who said that he had a juniper bush at home with four advent candles, one for each Sunday.
Through the years, the design of advent candle holders has varied, with most of the early ones shaped like bowls with holes for four candles on the sides. In the 1940s, the “boxes” in brass, copper or plaited straw were introduced, often filled with moss and immortelles or lingonberry twigs, and are probably still regarded as the most traditional advent candle holder.
In the 1950s, the box is challenged by young designers of the time. Gustavsberg launches new advent collections from Karin Björquist and Lisa Larson. In the 1950s, 60s and 70s, designers like Gunnar Ander, Erik Höglund and Bertil Vallien also make their versions.
What distinguishes an advent candle holder from a regular candle holder or four-arm candelabra isn’t all that obvious. That it can be filled with nuts or moss is of course a clue. Then again, there are many advent candle holders, both old and more modern, th
