American Holidays


Book Description

July 4th, Election Day, Christmas, and New Year's Eve: reading about our American national holidays is not only fun, it is a way of exploring our diverse culture and values. How do we celebrate Memorial Day? What is the history of Thanksgiving? What does "Be my valentine" mean?Special features: 4 appendices of typical holiday gifts, traditional holiday songs, readings for the holidays, a listing of other holidays in the US, the official national holiday of each country in the world.




All about American Holidays


Book Description

How more than 50 of our holidays originated and are observed today.




Celebrations; the Complete Book of American Holidays


Book Description

Cultural and historical background and traditions of forty-five major American holidays, both secular and religious, Christian and Jewish.




America's Favorite Holidays


Book Description

"America's Favorite Holidays explores how five of America's culturally dominant holidays--Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, and Thanksgiving--came to be what they are today, combinations of seasonal and religious celebrations heavily influenced by modern popular culture. Distilling information from a wide range of sources, Bruce David Forbes reveals the often surprising history behind the traditions of each holiday. The book offers a comprehensive look at the Christian origins of these holidays and also touches on Passover, the religions of ancient Rome, Celtic practices, Mexico's Day of the Dead, and American civil religion. America's Favorite Holidays answers our curiosity about the origins of our holidays and the many ways in which religion and culture mix"--Provided by publisher.




All Around the Year


Book Description

Whether they're decorating Easter trees or celebrating Wagner's birthday by playing recordings of his Ring cycle operas and incinerating a model of Valhalla on an outdoor barbecue to the closing strains of "Gotterdämerung," Americans know both how to create and how to celebrate holidays. Jack Santino's guide to such frivolity is a wonderfully readable exploration of holidays, periods of festivity, and life-cycle rituals and celebrations. Santino draws on history, anthropology, popular culture, and folklore to show the intricate relationships between holidays and the roles that celebrations and rituals play in people's lives.




Consumer Rites


Book Description

Reexamining the story of holidays in the United States, Leigh Schmidt shows that commercial appropriations of these occasions were actually as religious in form as they were secular. The new rituals of America's holiday bazaar offered a luxuriant merger of the holy and the profane - a heady blend of fashion and faith, merchandising and gift giving, profits and sentiments. In this richly illustrated book that captures both the blessings and ballyhoo of American holiday observances from the mid-eighteenth century through the twentieth, the author offers a reassessment of the "consumer rites" that various social critics have long decried for their spiritual emptiness and banal sentimentality.




The Book of the Year


Book Description

Halloween, Valentine's Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's Day - these are but a handful of modern holidays descended from the red-letter days, seasonal celebrations we have invented and reinvented over more than five millennia to meet our changing human needs. When we explore their origins, the holidays begin to reflect not only who we are but also why, through oppressed by time and thwarted by the forces of nature, we never seem to lose the will to control the future.




History of American Holidays


Book Description

History of American Holidays brings Americans together with inspirational stories about thirteen holidays. Each approachable, short read reveals connections between history, culture, and patriotism. Black and white illustrated chapters present engaging, home-spun accounts that leave the reader with an "I didn't know that" moment, as well as a sense of pride and gratitude.




The Mythology of America's Seasonal Holidays


Book Description

Every year we celebrate a cycle of seasonal holidays. The ancient Greeks called this cycle “The Dance of the Horae,” after the mythical divinities who represented the seasons. What myths sit at the foundation of our own holiday celebrations? This interdisciplinary book explores the myths and symbols that underlie our major seasonal holidays and give them their meaning. Arthur George also shows how America’s own mythmaking has shaped some holidays. This mythological approach reveals how and why holidays arose in the first place, how and why they have changed over the centuries, why they have remained important, and finally how we can celebrate them today in a more meaningful manner that can enrich our lives and better our society. George devotes particular attention to the depth psychological aspects of holidays and their corresponding myths, as well as to the insights of modern biblical scholarship for key holidays such as Easter and Christmas.




All American Christmas


Book Description

A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Pull up a chair, pour some eggnog, and enjoy the Christmas spirit with friends… From the wind-swept, snowy ranges of Wyoming to Florida beaches glowing with Christmas lights, All American Christmas traces holiday traditions across the United States. In this beautiful personal keepsake, Rachel Campos-Duffy and Sean Duffy present a dazzling collection of emotional stories, treasured family photographs, and homegrown Christmas recipes from some of Fox News’ most beloved personalities. Dana Perino takes readers out west to the cattle ranch where she celebrated Christmas with real life “Marlboro Men”—her uncles and grandfather. Maria Bartiromo reflects on growing up in Brooklyn and the famously brilliant light displays in her neighborhood. Brit Hume looks back at the day he and a friend rushed onto the Washington Senators’ field—and how his parents later warned him that he was now on Santa Claus’ naughty list. For Lauren Green, her understanding of Christmas has evolved with her growing faith. Beautifully designed to reflect the color and spirit and sparkle of the season and featuring 16 pages of color photographs, All American Christmas is a gift of love from the Fox News family and is sure to be cherished for seasons to come.