There Really is a Santa Claus - History of Saint Nicholas & Christmas Holiday Traditions [Paperback]

William J. Federer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 24, 2002

Saint Nicholas - Sinter Klaas - Santa Claus Read the story of Nicholas, 3rd Century Bishop of Myra, Asia Minor (present day Turkey) and how over time stories of his holy, generous life were embelished into legend. Discover additions of writer Washington Irving, minister Clement Moore, Civil War illustrator Thomas Nast, Coca-Cola artist Haddom Sundblom. Explore fascinating origins of the 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas Tree, Carols, Kris Kringle, Creche' scene, Poinsettia, Hanukkah... Relive events on Christmas throughout history, from Columbus to Valley Forge, the Great Depression to the Korean War. Travel back in time by reading Christmas Messages of U.S. Presidents, such as: Harry S Truman, just after WWII, at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree, 1946: "If we as a nation, and the other nations of the world, will accept it, the star of faith will guide us into the place of peace as it did the shepherds on that day of Christ's birth long ago."

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Amerisearch, Inc. (November 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965355748
• ISBN-13: 978-0965355742
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #644,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, January 27, 2012

By 

Heather McMullen - See all my reviews

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This review is from: There Really is a Santa Claus - History of Saint Nicholas & Christmas Holiday Traditions (Paperback)

I received Bill Federer's "American Minute" emails for several years and they were fascinating facts of US history. I came to rely on him for his accurate and well written research and expected more from his book. It's interesting in that it tells the origins of our current Christmas traditions and while the book contains some interesting information, the layout is a mass of pages filled with words with no starting or stopping point. It would have been sufficient to look up the information online myself and then highlighted the standout points.

5.0 out of 5 stars AN INTERESTING CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF ST. NICHOLAS AND CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS, December 24, 2010

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: There Really is a Santa Claus - History of Saint Nicholas & Christmas Holiday Traditions (Paperback)

William J. Federer is an American historian and writer, who has written books such as America's God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations, What Every American Needs to Know About the Qur'an - A History of Islam & the United States, Backfired: A Nation Born For Religious Tolerance No Longer Tolerates Religion, Treasury Of Presidential Quotations, etc. He also has a daily radio show, The American Minute, which summarized what happened on that day in history.

This 2003 book begins with St. Nicholas himself, and includes detailed accounts of all the stories and legends about him. Then it jumps rather abruptly to the 10th century, then the 13th, etc. While the book perhaps overdoes it in terms of quoting Presidential Christmas addresses (which actually make up the majority of the book), there is a lot of interesting historical material here.

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Martin Luther ... realized, though, the importance of traditions in people's lives, especially at Christmas time, so he sought to refocus the people's thought on the Christ Child, which in old German was pronounced 'Kris Kindl' (Christkindl), later pronounced 'Kris Kringle.' He taught Christ was the giver of all gifts and our gift-giving should be in remembrance of the great gifts Christ gave us." (Pg. 39)
"Some traditions have clearly pagan backgrounds, such as: 'Mistletoe,' which was hung up by the Druids to ward off evil spirits, which custom of kissing under it originated with the Celts and Teutons of northern Europe; the 'Yule Log,' was blessed by the Druids with a great ceremony at their winter feast, promising it would bring good luck if it could be kept burning during the entire winter solstice... 'Wassailing' was the practice of pouring wassail punch ... on their trees, fields, beehives, in an attempt to bring luck for the next year's harvests." (Pg. 47)
"The Greek symbol X is the abbreviation of Christos, and is the origin of X-mas as 'Christmas.'" (Pg. 55)
(President John Kennedy, on December 17, 1962) "...I was struck by the fact that in the far off continents Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, as well as Christians, pause from their labors on the 25th day of December to celebrate the birthday of the Prince of Peace. There could be no more striking proof that Christmas is truly the universal holiday of all men." (Pg. 157)

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars my review, January 24, 2010

By 

linda (ASHVILLE, NY, US) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: There Really is a Santa Claus - History of Saint Nicholas & Christmas Holiday Traditions (Paperback)

This book was received in a timely manner and was everything I thought it would be. Lots of questions were answered by reading this.