Customer Reviews

Holidays & Holy Days: Origins, Customs, and Insights on Celebrations Through the Year

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I guess I did not read the information on this book thouroughly enough before purchasing it. The back cover says, "a valuable resource for any Christian." Throughout the book, the author refers to "our beliefs" and "our religion." The primary purpose of this book is to explain how holiday traditions have become part of Christian celebrations.

If that's what you're looking for, then this book is for you. If, however, you are wanting to know about the pre-Christian origins of holidays, you will get only a little bit of info from this book. Christmas for example - although the author admits that many other religions celebrated holidays on December 25, there is no discussion of any of those celebrations. The tradition of lights and candles at Christmas time is explained only in reference to "Jesus the Light of the World" and whether or not a candle helped guide Joseph and Mary. No mention of the earlier traditions of driving back darkness on the longest night of the year, the winter solstice. Easter is dealt with specifically as a Christian holiday - only a few passing nods at the eons of spring equinox celebrations that preceded it.

In the author's defense, there is no preaching here. She does a good job of presenting the results of her research, not pushing her faith. And she does address Jewish holy days and all of the holidays normally thought of as non-religious (i.e. Memorial Day, Labor Day).

Basically, there is some interesting info here, but it is very "Christian-centric" - if you want info that isn't the "party line," better look elsewhere.