Customer Reviews

Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays

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At the time of writing this 1995 book, Leigh Eric Schmidt was an Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at Princeton University. He is also the author of books such as Hearing Things: Religion, Illusion, and the American Enlightenment, Holy Fairs: Scotland and the Making of American Revivalism, Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality, and others.

He writes in the Introduction, "This book is a historical explanation of how these now taken-for-granted connections in American culture between commerce and celebration were forged. It examines the evolving relationships ... between America's religious culture and its consumer culture, between holidays and the market. In a word, it is a history of that old bugbear, commercialization. The book focuses on St. Valentine's day, Christmas, Easter, and Mother's Day ... but also roams more widely across the American calendar, pausing to scrutinze other events such as New Year's, the Fourth of July, and Father's Day. It explores the widening influence of the commercial culture on the way Americans celebrate, on the gifts they exchange, on the holiday rituals and liturgies they enact."

Here are some other quotations from the book:

"Only in 1970 would major department stores such as Macy's begin to integrate their crew of Santa Clauses." (Pg. 134)
"The movement to 'put Christ back in Christmas' ultimately underscored how deeply the modern Christmas was enmeshed in the commercial culture and how easily criticism of the consumer-oriented holiday was translated into a merchandising idiom." (Pg. 189)
"The African American festival Kwanzaa is increasingly exhibiting this same predicament of resistance and co-optation." (Pg. 300)

I read this in 1997, but am just now realizing I never reviewed it.

It is beyond my imagination that anyone would not be riveted by this book. It traces the 19th and early 20th cent. evolution of a number of holidays with churchly roots that were co-opted by Hallmark and the dept. stores, often with the zealous cooperation of hapless Christians. Schmidt can tell a story with balance, accuracy, humor, and action.