Customer Reviews

Christmas Customs and Traditions

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This book was originally published in 1912 under the title "Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan".

This Book not only covers Christmas, but Halloween and various Saint's Days.

Mr. Miles does an interesting job of exploring the lore behind Christmas breads and cakes, the Yule log, decorating, and the Christmas Dramas of Europe and the British Isles, earlier this century.

A quaint Northumberland ritual utilizing Holly leaves is presented from page 275 of this work:

"....Nine leaves are taken up and tied with nine knots into a
"handkerchief, and put under the pillow by a person who
"desires prophetic dreams.
"For this purpose smooth leaves (without prickles)
"must be employed...."
The next sentence informs us that "holly is hated by witches"....

A twist on the familiar "Kissing under the Mistletoe" is given on the previous page, and we are informed that after each kiss, the boy removes a berry from the bough, and "when the berries were all picked, the privilege ceased."

You will also find a scattering of black and white reproductions of paintings, a wonderfully etched reproduction of Albreht Durer's "Madonna and Child", as well as a bibliography, notes and an index.

This book is well worth it's modest price.

You certainly won't find any fluff in this book. It is not, as suggested by another reviewer, written in early modern English, but in thoroughly modern English. The prose is a bit stiff and formal, almost academic (which is consistent with its publication date), but entirely readable. There are a few quotes and poems in original languages which are not translated.
These problems aside, for anyone truly interested in the origins of how we celebrate various "festivals" this time of year, this book is indispensable. I actually found the second part of the book, dealing with pagan rituals and festivals, to be the most interesting; it is fascinating to me how these practices, some thousands of years old, have survived to this day in various forms in different parts of the world.
The origins of Christmas are dealt with in a very straightforward, dispassionate way.

This book was originally published in 1912. In the Preface, the author states, "In this volume I have tried to show how Christmas is or has been kept in various lands and ages, and to trace as far as possible the origin of the pagan elements that have mingled with the Church's feast of the Nativity... The book has been written primarily for the general reader, but I venture to hope that, with all its imperfections, it may be of some use to the more serious student, as a rough outline map of the field of Christmas customs, and as bringing together materials hitherto scattered through a multitude of volumes in various languages."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"The French Noel ... (is) obviously derived from the Latin natalis, and meaning 'birthday.' One naturally takes this as referring to the Birth of Christ..." (Pg. 22)
"Yule, the ordinary word for Christmas in the Scandinavian languages ... Its derivation has been widely discussed, but so far no satisfactory explanation of it has been found... Whatever its source may be, it is clearly the name of a Germanic season---probably a two-month tide covering the second half of November, the whole of December, and the first half of January." (Pg. 25)
"'(C)arol' had at first a secular or even pagan significance: in twelfth-century France it was used to describe the amorous song-dance which hailed the coming of spring... while by English writers from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century it was used chiefly of singing joined with dancing, and had no necessary connection with religion." (Pg. 47)
"The use of the 'crib' (French 'creche'...) at Christmas is now universally diffused in the Roman Church." (Pg. 105)
"Whatever the limits fixed for the beginning and end of the Christmas festival, its core is always the period between Christmas Eve and the Epiphany---the 'Twelve Days.' A cycle of feasts falls within this time, and the customs peculiar to each day will be created in calendarial order." (Pg. 238-239)
"The most widespread, and to children the most delightful, of all festal institutions is the Christmas-tree. Its picturesqueness and gay charm have made it spread rapidly all over Europe without roots in national tradition, for, as most people know, it is a German creation, and even in Germany it attained its present immense popularity only in the nineteenth century." (Pg. 263)

This books will offer an excellent overview of Christmas if you can get through the prose. Written in a by-gone time, this book may challenge readers.

If you can get through the awardness of the writing style, please prepare for Christmas treat!

Although the information is located,somewhere, in this edition it is difficult to cut through the use of "Ye Kings English" Reading this book is like reading an old kings james version of the Bible.(Not that the KJV is bad, just tasking to get through all the "Thee's & Thou's) The information about Christmas is in the book, it just seems to take forever to get around the word usage. I also found the order in which the information is presented not easy to follow. In my opinion if you are looking for just "history of Christmas" Go some place else FAST, before you fall asleep reading this snoozer! If you so choose to purchase this edition take no-doz and good luck!