Select language, opens an overlay

Comment

haklh
Sep 26, 2018haklh rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
3.5 stars. This is a very informative, often surprising and very well-researched history into the origins and evolution of various Christmas traditions. The author performed much mythbusting around public notions of Christmas being a more religious, less commercial festival "in the good old days" - in fact, the sources suggest that Christmas has always been more strongly associated with feasting, drinking and commerce than with religion. Even the more religious-seeming traditions such as nativity scenes and carols had secular origins rather than religious ones. These investigations into the history of Christmas also, directly and indirectly, reflect upon the difficulties of historical research, and people's insatiable desire for nostalgia and myth-making. Over and over, the authors showed that, i) people naturally assumed that things were better in the olden days (while conveniently forgetting the worse aspects); and ii) how quickly certain traditions gain an ancient aura (eg certain ceremonies that were, in fact, only 15 years' old were readily believed to be "since time immemorial"). Despite its festive topic, it is not a light "holiday read" - while the contents are entertaining, it is quite an academic and information-dense work. You need a bit of concentration to keep track of the various historical sources quoted. Read it carefully and you will be rewarded with a much improved experience.