Christmas: A Candid HistoryWritten for everyone who loves and is simultaneously driven crazy by the holiday season, Christmas: A Candid History provides an enlightening, entertaining perspective on how the annual Yuletide celebration got to be what it is today. In a fascinating, concise tour through history, the book tells the story of Christmas—from its pre-Christian roots, through the birth of Jesus, to the holiday's spread across Europe into the Americas and beyond, and to its mind-boggling transformation through modern consumerism. Packed with intriguing stories, based on research into myriad sources, full of insights, the book explores the historical origins of traditions including Santa, the reindeer, gift giving, the Christmas tree, Christmas songs and movies, and more. The book also offers some provocative ideas for reclaiming the joy and meaning of this beloved, yet often frustrating, season amid the pressures of our fast-paced consumer culture. DID YOU KNOW For three centuries Christians did not celebrate Christmas? Puritans in England and New England made Christmas observances illegal? St. Nicholas is an elf in the famous poem "The Night Before Christmas"? President Franklin Roosevelt changed the dateof Thanksgiving in order to lengthen the Christmas shopping season? Coca-Cola helped fashion Santa Claus's look in an advertising campaign? |
Contents
First There Was Winter | 1 |
Christmas Comes Late | 15 |
Christmas Is Like a Snowball | 43 |
From Saint Nicholas to Santa Claus | 67 |
And The There Was Money | 109 |
Wrestling with Christmas | 137 |
Notes | 155 |
163 | |
171 | |
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Common terms and phrases
addition American Christmas Bari Barnett became biblical bibliography birth of Jesus birthday bishop cards Catholic celebrate Christmas century Christ child Christmas cards Christmas Carol Christmas Day Christmas movies Christmas observances Christmas season Christmas story Christmas tree church claim Clement Moore colonies commercial cultural customs December 25 decorations developed Dickens Dutch early Christians eastern Encyclopedia of Christmas English Epiphany Europe evergreen examples feast focus German gift giving gospel of Matthew greenery Gregorian calendar Gulevich Haddon Sundblom historian history of Christmas holiday illustration included January legend Matthew and Luke McKibben midwinter Modern Christmas Myra narratives nativity story Night Before Christmas notes Old Calendarists parties person Pintard poem popular Puritan refer reindeer religion religious Roman Saint Nicholas Santa Claus Saturnalia scholars snowball song spiritual Stephen Nissenbaum symbol Thanksgiving traditions United Victoria Washington Irving White Christmas winter festivals wrapping paper wrote York