LEISE RIESELT DER SCHNEE

This popular German children's carol is about the Christ Child's arrival. It invites the listener to imagine a child sitting by a window watching the snow gently falling in anticipation of Christmas Eve. The original 1895 title was "Weihnachtsgruß" ("Christmas greeting") and was included in Eduard Ebel's Gesammelte Gedichte ("Collection of Poems"). Ebel was a Protestant pastor, poet, and composer. This carol was his effort at capturing the wintery and celebratory mood of Advent, a word derived from Latin that means "arrival."

In 1839 Hamburg resident and missionary Johann Hinrich Wichern introduced the Adventskranz (Advent wreath) for the children of the "Rauhen Haus" who would ask, "When will it be Christmas?" It was made from an old wagon wheel with enough candles for each day of the Advent season. Originally there were four large white candles for the Sundays and Christmas Eve with smaller red candles filling in between. From this was developed the idea of the Advent wreath with four candles and since 1860 the wreath has been made of greenery - generally fir or spruce. For many years my family either bought or made an Adventskranz as a reminder of Christmas in Germany - and what and why we celebrate at this time of year.

And I do dream of a white Christmas like the child I see when I hear this song.