Why 24 Doors, and Which Door to Open First: Advent in 2026 and 2027

Before anyone fills a single door, there is a small decision waiting behind door 1: which morning does it open on? Advent is four Sundays that move around from year to year, while the doors count a steady December 1 to 24, and this page shows how the two fit together. It is the pillar of the history cluster: who invented the advent calendar sets out the dates that sources disagree on, and advent calendars in Germany, France, the UK and the US goes country by country.

The free maker on this site has 24 doors and sends the calendar as one link. Since the start date comes before the first door is filled, it gets answered first.

Advent is four Sundays; the calendar is 24 days

Start with the season itself. Österreich Werbung, the Austrian national tourist board, writes that Advent in the Latin Church lasts 22 to 28 days and always includes four Sundays. The same page adds that the advent calendar has been used since the 19th century as a countdown to Christmas, like the wreath, and that its first door opens on December 1.

For the Sundays, Smart-Rechner, a German calculator site whose page was last reviewed on December 1, 2025, defines the first Sunday of Advent as the fourth-last Sunday before Christmas Day. It gives Sunday, November 29, 2026 and Sunday, November 28, 2027. The page does not give the length of Advent in days, so the figures in the table below are arithmetic from its two dates and from the weekday of Christmas Day, not quoted facts.

Both lengths sit comfortably inside the 22 to 28 days that Austria’s page gives. The two counts set off from different places: Advent begins on a Sunday that moves from year to year, while a calendar that counts from December 1 always begins on the same date, whatever the weekday.

Why the count is 1 to 24

Wherever the count is written down, it is written down the same way. Austria’s tourist board says the first door opens on December 1. The Routard guide to Alsace, published by Hachette tourisme, says that every morning from the 1st to the 24th of December children open a small window of their Advent calendar, with a small picture or a little chocolate behind it: “Chaque matin du 1er au 24 décembre, les enfants ouvrent une petite fenêtre de leur calendrier de l’Avent”. Expatica’s guide to Switzerland describes the window calendars of smaller towns, where 24 households each decorate a window and one is revealed each evening from December 1 to 24. Sellmer, the Stuttgart publisher, describes the oldest homemade form as 24 pictures hung up in December.

Not one of them says why the count stops at 24 and not at 25.

Good to know The sources agree on the count and are silent on the reason for it. A calendar with 24 doors follows a convention, and none of the sources cited here states a rule that a 25th door would break.

The first calendar that turned 24 times

The earliest printed calendar that many of the sources name is a clock, not a wall of little doors: a children’s “Christmas clock”, a Weihnachtsuhr, published in 1902 by the Evangelische Buchhandlung Friedrich Trümpler in Hamburg. That is how the Protestant Sonntagsblatt tells it. Sellmer’s history page calls it “probably” the first printed advent calendar, and the Deutsches Hopfenmuseum’s exhibition text of 2008 dates a so-called Weihnachtsuhr to 1902 in Hamburg. Store norske leksikon, the Norwegian reference work, adds the detail that matters here: the calendar was shaped like a clock whose hand was turned 24 times.

Not every source gives 1902 the first place. Christian Today dates Gerhard Lang’s 24-image calendar to 1903, evangelisch.de says the first printed calendar was Lang’s, from 1904, and Sky HISTORY dates Lang’s and Reichhold’s calendars with small pictures behind little doors to 1908. This page follows the Hamburg clock because it is the object the 24-turn description belongs to. The full line-up of dates is on who invented the advent calendar.

Which door to open first

Door 1 opens on December 1, and the doors follow in order up to door 24 on December 24. That is the count in the sources above. What varies is the day you start.

A calendar that starts on the first Sunday of Advent runs out of doors two days before Christmas Eve in 2026 and three days before it in 2027, because it has 24 doors and Advent has 26 or 27 days. A calendar that starts on December 1 finishes on December 24 in every year. Both are defensible; the sources describe the December 1 count.

Gengenbach’s town hall shows how a town can do it differently. The festival listing, updated on May 22, 2026, gives the run of the town-hall calendar as November 27 to December 23, 2026. A dpa report on the 2025 season says the building has 24 windows and opens one each evening at 18:00. The two pages do not say which evening opens the first window in 2026, so this page does not guess.

Variants, each with its own date

Nordic television calendars

In the Nordic countries a julekalender or julkalender is first of all something you watch: a television programme. Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT says on its own page: “Julkalendern har varit en tradition på SVT sedan 1960”, and lists “Titteliture” as the first. Denmark’s DR says in its own history piece that its first TV julekalender ran in 1962. It was proposed by Mogens Winkler of the children’s and youth department, who wanted to make something similar after Sweden’s start in 1960. Cardboard calendars were printed alongside it, with the profits going to development aid. Store norske leksikon dates Norway’s first TV julekalender to 1979, “Jul i Skomakergata” on NRK, and dates the first printed Norwegian julekalender to 1947.

A television calendar is a programme to watch, a different object from a cardboard calendar with doors, though the two meet in Denmark, where DR says the printed calendar was sold alongside the series.

Nikolaus on December 6 and Sinterklaas on December 5

Planet Wissen, the SWR and WDR knowledge site, says December 6 is Nikolaus Day, especially important in Germany and the Netherlands. Children put cleaned shoes outside the door and find apples, nuts and sweets in them. In the Netherlands the main event is the evening of December 5, Pakjesavond, when gifts are given; Sinterklaas arrives by steamboat from Spain in mid-November, according to ACCESS NL.

Neither date depends on the 24 doors, though they land on them neatly. In a calendar that counts from December 1, the Dutch gift evening falls on door 5 and the German shoe morning on door 6.

Lucia on December 13

Linköping University’s page says Lucia is celebrated in Sweden on December 13. Under the Julian calendar the longest night fell between December 12 and 13, until the Gregorian calendar came to Sweden in 1753; Skansen in Stockholm established Lucia celebrations toward the end of the 19th century, and the custom became popular with the broader public in 1927, when a Lucia competition was held. In a December 1 calendar that is door 13.

The Orthodox Nativity Fast

The Orthodox Church in America publishes a reflection by Fr. Steven Kostoff dated November 15, 2016, which opens: “Today—November 15—we begin the forty day Nativity Fast”. Forty days from November 15 reach December 24 (arithmetic). The page describes a fast, not a countdown with doors, and it does not mention a calendar of doors.

A 2026 timeline

Put in order, the dates above make one crowded month, from the Orthodox fast in mid-November to the last door on Christmas Eve.

For 2027 the same line-up shifts only where Advent does: the first Sunday is November 28, December 1 is a Wednesday, and the fourth Sunday is December 19 (arithmetic).

In the tool AdventMyFriend has 24 doors, each of which opens on its date, and the finished calendar goes out as one link by WhatsApp, email or social media. The home page does not state the hour a door opens, so agree on the date with the person you are sending it to, and fill door 1 before you send the link.

Put it in a calendar

If door 1 is going to open on December 1, the template for a friend abroad is a finished 24-door calendar you copy and change. Or start from an empty one: Create your calendar, choose a background, and write door 1 first, since the date it opens on is fixed by the count above.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does an advent calendar have 24 doors?

Because the calendar counts the days from December 1 to December 24, and the first door opens on December 1. None of the sources cited here says why the count stops at 24, and none states a reason for not having a 25th door. The 1902 Hamburg “Christmas clock” is described as a dial turned 24 times.

Do advent calendars have 24 or 25 doors?

The sources cited here count 24: December 1 to 24 in Austria’s account and in Alsace and the Swiss window calendars. None describes a 25th door. A calendar with a different count is a choice by whoever made it.

Do you open door 1 or door 24 first?

Door 1, on December 1, and then in order. Door 24 comes last, on December 24.

When is the first Sunday of Advent in 2026 and 2027?

Sunday, November 29, 2026 and Sunday, November 28, 2027, according to Smart-Rechner.

How long is Advent in 2026?

Austria’s tourist board says Advent lasts 22 to 28 days. Counted from November 29 to December 24 with both days included, it is 26 days in 2026 and 27 in 2027; those two figures are arithmetic from Smart-Rechner’s dates, not a quoted fact.

Do Orthodox Christians have an advent calendar?

The Orthodox Church in America’s reflection of November 15, 2016 describes the Nativity Fast as forty days beginning that day. It is a fast, and the page does not describe a calendar of doors.

What is the Swedish julkalender?

A television programme. SVT says the julkalender has been a tradition on its channel since 1960, with “Titteliture” as the first. Denmark’s DR started its own in 1962.

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