A colorful eye-catcher in the town

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0. After the countdown, with all the children, parents and teachers counting along, the windows on the 2nd floor of the school building light up in the most beautiful colors. A short time later, the countdown starts again and the windows on the first floor also light up. Then another countdown until 24 windows of the Hugenfeld school building shine out into the night.

The children are excited to quickly find the works of art they have created in their class and show them to their parents.

"When the lights come on, the children are really amazed and proud when they find 'their' windows and can show them to their families," says Simone Ehrensperger from the Altstadt 2 kindergarten.

First meeting before the summer holidays

Together with teachers Christine Rudin and Monika Hübscher, Simone Ehrensperger forms the working group that has been responsible for the Advent windows at Hugenfeld School for several years. "When it's still really hot, just before the summer vacations, we always meet in the Städtli and think about the theme of the Advent windows," say the three women. After the summer vacations, the implementation is fleshed out, the materials are purchased and the first prototypes are designed. The detailed instructions for the teachers will also be drawn up soon.

"We specify a few things. That way, the windows end up looking uniform and yet are still very individually designed," explains Monika Hübscher.

After the fall vacations, the handicrafts will begin in the individual classes. "Each of the twelve classes designs two windows," explains Christine Rudin. "We worked on them with the children again and again," explains Simone Ehrensperger.

Reflections

The theme of this year's Advent windows is "Reflections". Each class from kindergarten to fourth grade was able to choose four of the motifs Grättimann, snowman, glove, fir tree, stars and Christmas baubles. The tissue paper in the colors light green, dark green, golden yellow, orange, red, blue, purple and pink was also divided among the twelve classes.

Over the past few weeks, the various classrooms have been busy drawing, cutting, dotting and gluing, and colorful black and white mirror images in various Christmas motifs have been created everywhere. "The children love doing handicrafts," says Christine Rudin. This also became clear when I was allowed to visit a class making the Advent windows. The children were highly concentrated at work and were delighted to see their work of art taking shape.

For the working group and the teachers, creating the Advent windows is a huge effort. "But the effort and the results are very good," emphasizes Monika Hübscher.

And Christine Rudin smiles: "You are rewarded at the latest when the windows are lit up and all the children are amazed."

December 9 is the day. At 5.30 pm, children, parents and teachers meet in the town church and get in the mood for the wonderful Advent and Christmas season with a few songs sung by the pupils. At 6 p.m., the countdown begins in front of the Hugendfeld school building and the wonderfully designed colorful windows light up one floor at a time until they all shine out into the dark night.

Janine Tschopp is a freelance journalist. She writes regularly for the Neue Fricktaler Zeitung, the cultural magazine "2x Rheinfelden" and the Rheinfelden Christmas magazine, among others.