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Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals at the Origins of Yuletide by Christian Rätsch |
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Diligent research...excellent study...many rare illustrations...of great interest to folklorists and other researchers and storytellers" -- Come-All-Ye
"Gripping...rich...wonderful" -- Fortean Times
"diligent research.... The excellent study, with many rare illustrations (b/w), will be of great interest to folklorists and other researchers and storytellers" -- Come-All-Ye
"gripping.... Studies as rich as this are few and far between. Let the kids have their sanitized Santa; when they are a bit older they can scare themselves shitless reading this wonderful, dangerous book" -- Fortean Times
“Diligent research...excellent study...many rare illustrations...of great interest to folklorists and other researchers and storytellers” --Come-All-Ye
“Gripping...rich...wonderful” --Fortean Times
"Gripping...rich...wonderful" -- Fortean Times
"diligent research.... The excellent study, with many rare illustrations (b/w), will be of great interest to folklorists and other researchers and storytellers" -- Come-All-Ye
"gripping.... Studies as rich as this are few and far between. Let the kids have their sanitized Santa; when they are a bit older they can scare themselves shitless reading this wonderful, dangerous book" -- Fortean Times
“Diligent research...excellent study...many rare illustrations...of great interest to folklorists and other researchers and storytellers” --Come-All-Ye
“Gripping...rich...wonderful” --Fortean Times
Product Description
Much of the modern-day vision of Santa Claus is owed to the Clement Moore poem “The Night Before Christmas.” His description of Saint Nicholas personified the “jolly old elf” known to millions of children throughout the world. However, far from being the offshoot of Saint Nicholas of Turkey, Santa Claus is the last of a longline of what scholars call Wild Men who were worshipped in ancient European fertility rites and came to America through Pennsylvania’s Germans. This pagan creature is described from prehistoric times through his various forms—Robin Hood, The Fool, Harlequin, Satan and Robin Goodfellow—into today’s carnival and Christmas scenes. In this thoroughly researched work, the origins of Santa Claus are found to stretch back over 50,000 years, jolting the foundation of Christian myths about the jolly old elf.
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› Visit Amazon's Phyllis Siefker Page
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
It began with a question, a nagging doubt raised by available Santa Claus articles and books that offered only one explanation: Santa Claus is an Americanization of Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century Asian bishop. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Robin Goodfellow, Robin Hood, Black Pete, British Isles, Papa Bois, Christmas Eve, Kriss Kringle, Middle Ages, Bold Slasher, Wild Woman, New York, Knecht Ruprecht, May Pole, The Mad Pranks, Saint George, Catholic Church, Clement Miles, Frau Gauden, Johnny Jack, May Day, Pierrot Grenade, Black Forest, Devil Dout New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
It began with a question, a nagging doubt raised by available Santa Claus articles and books that offered only one explanation: Santa Claus is an Americanization of Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century Asian bishop. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Robin Goodfellow, Robin Hood, Black Pete, British Isles, Papa Bois, Christmas Eve, Kriss Kringle, Middle Ages, Bold Slasher, Wild Woman, New York, Knecht Ruprecht, May Pole, The Mad Pranks, Saint George, Catholic Church, Clement Miles, Frau Gauden, Johnny Jack, May Day, Pierrot Grenade, Black Forest, Devil Dout New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
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72% buy the item featured on this page: Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men: The Origins and Evolution of Saint Nicholas, Spanning 50,000 Years |
 |
10% buy The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas $13.57 |
 |
6% buy When Santa Was A Shaman: Ancient Origins of Santa Claus & the Christmas Tree |
 |
6% buy Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals at the Origins of Yuletide $16.47 |
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