Holidays and Holy Nights: Celebrating Twelve Seasonal Festivals of the Christian Year [Paperback]

Christopher Hill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 2003

For many people the chaos of fifty-hour workweeks and the demands of family have created a hectic, routine-driven life. Time itself becomes a conveyor belt moving us continuously from one demand to the next and year-to-year. Holidays and Holy Nights offers an escape from the conveyor-belt life and introduces us to the cyclical and deeply spiritual Christian liturgical year. This joyous book "unpacks" theology to uncover the poetic, symbolic, folkloric, psychological, and mystical nature of the liturgical year. Moving through the four seasons, Hill discusses holidays such as the Feast of Michaelmas, Halloween, Advent, Christmas Eve, Easter Vigil, and the Transfiguration. After evoking the experience of the seasons/festivals, Hill shows how they developed in history, theology, and folklore. He then offers specific suggestions for participating more deeply in the seasons, for Christians and non-Christians alike. Holidays and Holy Nights is a guide for all spiritual seekers looking for ritual and a way to create “sacred time” in our own lives, inspiring us to practice festival as a form of high fun or reverential play.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Three of the 12 chapters of this illustrated guide deal with Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, while the others tackle different days of the Christian year, including Easter and Pentecost. Especially interesting are the chapters on various lesser-known holy days like Michaelmas, All Saints' Day, Candlemas, the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene and the Feast of the Transfiguration. Hill has his reasons for wanting to resurrect the rhythms of the liturgical calendar: "We are all Bob Cratchits these days, chained in our money-changing cubbyholes for hours that even Ebenezer Scrooge would hesitate to demand." This book is a call for experiencing sacred time, and recovering the drama of incarnation, liberation and rebirth.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Christopher Hill's work has appeared in publications including the Los Angeles Reader, Spin Magazine, Record Magazine, and The Rolling Stone Review. He has been a broadcast producer, rock critic, editor, communications director for the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, and has taught adult enrichment courses for the University of Wisconsin. He is the recipient of an Episcopal Communicators Award and an Associated Church Press Award.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Quest Books; 1 edition (September 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0835608107
• ISBN-13: 978-0835608107
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #791,797 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Thoughtful Examination of Church Holidays, August 16, 2004

By 

S. Brist (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Holidays and Holy Nights: Celebrating Twelve Seasonal Festivals of the Christian Year (Paperback)

For someone like me who came from a background with less emphasis on church feasts and holidays, this book is an excellent tool. It provides a a solid look at the historical and liturgical history of the holidays and combines that with the personal reflections and insights of the author. This book is an interesting guidebook to find spiritual meaning in church tradition.