Christmas in America

Christmas in America

Author: Peter Guttman

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2023-11-21

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1510778551

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A New Edition of Peter Guttman's Dazzling Photographic Treasury of Holiday Lights and Celebrations Nothing reminds us of the good things in life—family, friendship, food, and good cheer—more than Christmas. With stunning images and illuminating text, award-winning photographer Peter Guttman offers a dazzling overview of the wintry landscapes, traditions, ceremonies, spectacles, and pastimes of the holiday season throughout the United States. Delve into the landscapes and streetscapes of Christmas in America and you can almost smell the frosted scent of snow-covered pines, of chestnuts roasting, and of family meals being shared. In the East, we find the spirit of the season in a cozy Vermont country inn, or an “army of elves” in a Philadelphia parade, or the sweeping grace of the sugar plum fairies in the Nutcracker Suite. In the heartland, we dogsled through a crystal wilderness in Minnesota and discover blazing bonfires in Louisiana. The snowy cliffs of the Grand Canyon, steam trains weaving high amongst the Rockies, the textured pueblos of New Mexico, the almost heavenly night sky of Utah’s Monument Valley, and the indescribable glazed beauty of Yosemite reflect the West. Like the holiday season itself, Christmas in America is a treasure.


We are what We Celebrate

We are what We Celebrate

Author: Amitai Etzioni

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2004-12

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 0814722261

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How did Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday become a national holiday? Why do we exchange presents on Christmas and Chanukah? What do bunnies have to do with Easter? How did Earth Day become a global holiday? These questions and more are answered in this fascinating exploration into the history and meaning of holidays and rituals. Edited by Amitai Etzioni, one of the most influential social and political thinkers of our time, this collection provides a compelling overview of the impact that holidays and rituals have on our family and communal life. From community solidarity to ethnic relations to religious traditions, We Are What We Celebrate argues that holidays such as Halloween, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve, and Valentine's Day play an important role in reinforcing, and sometimes redefining, our values as a society. The collection brings together classic and original essays that, for the first time, offer a comprehensive overview and analysis of the important role such celebrations play in maintaining a moral order as well as in cementing family bonds, building community relations and creating national identity. The essays cover such topics as the creation of Thanksgiving as a national holiday; the importance of holidays for children; the mainstreaming of Kwanzaa; and the controversy over Columbus Day celebrations. Compelling and often surprising, this look at holidays and rituals brings new meaning to not just the ways we celebrate but to what those celebrations tell us about ourselves and our communities. Contributors: Theodore Caplow, Gary Cross, Matthew Dennis, Amitai Etzioni, John R. Gillis, Ellen M. Litwicki, Diana Muir, Francesca Polletta, Elizabeth H. Pleck, David E. Proctor, Mary F. Whiteside, and Anna Day Wilde.


Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Author: James W. Baker

Publisher: UPNE

Published: 2010-09-30

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1584658746

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The origins and ever-changing story of America's favorite holiday


Christmas in America

Christmas in America

Author: Penne L. Restad

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1996-12-05

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0199923582

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The manger or Macy's? Americans might well wonder which is the real shrine of Christmas, as they take part each year in a mix of churchgoing, shopping, and family togetherness. But the history of Christmas cannot be summed up so easily as the commercialization of a sacred day. As Penne Restad reveals in this marvelous new book, it has always been an ambiguous meld of sacred thoughts and worldly actions-- as well as a fascinating reflection of our changing society. In Christmas in America, Restad brilliantly captures the rise and transformation of our most universal national holiday. In colonial times, it was celebrated either as an utterly solemn or a wildly social event--if it was celebrated at all. Virginians hunted, danced, and feasted. City dwellers flooded the streets in raucous demonstrations. Puritan New Englanders denounced the whole affair. Restad shows that as times changed, Christmas changed--and grew in popularity. In the early 1800s, New York served as an epicenter of the newly emerging holiday, drawing on its roots as a Dutch colony (St. Nicholas was particularly popular in the Netherlands, even after the Reformation), and aided by such men as Washington Irving. In 1822, another New Yorker named Clement Clarke Moore penned a poem now known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," virtually inventing the modern Santa Claus. Well-to-do townspeople displayed a German novelty, the decorated fir tree, in their parlors; an enterprising printer discovered the money to be made from Christmas cards; and a hodgepodge of year-end celebrations began to coalesce around December 25 and the figure of Santa. The homecoming significance of the holiday increased with the Civil War, and by the end of the nineteenth century a full- fledged national holiday had materialized, forged out of borrowed and invented custom alike, and driven by a passion for gift-giving. In the twentieth century, Christmas seeped into every niche of our conscious and unconscious lives to become a festival of epic proportions. Indeed, Restad carries the story through to our own time, unwrapping the messages hidden inside countless movies, books, and television shows, revealing the inescapable presence--and ambiguous meaning--of Christmas in contemporary culture. Filled with colorful detail and shining insight, Christmas in America reveals not only much about the emergence of the holiday, but also what our celebrations tell us about ourselves. From drunken revelry along colonial curbstones to family rituals around the tree, from Thomas Nast drawing the semiofficial portrait of St. Nick to the making of the film Home Alone, Restad's sparkling account offers much to amuse and ponder.


Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Author: Melanie Kirkpatrick

Publisher: Encounter Books

Published: 2021-10-05

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 1641772131

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We all know the story of Thanksgiving. Or do we? This uniquely American holiday has a rich and little known history beyond the famous feast of 1621. In Thanksgiving, award-winning author Melanie Kirkpatrick journeys through four centuries of history, giving us a vivid portrait of our nation's best-loved holiday. Drawing on newspaper accounts, private correspondence, historical documents, and cookbooks, Thanksgiving brings to life the full history of the holiday and what it has meant to generations of Americans. Many famous figures walk these pages—Washington, who proclaimed our first Thanksgiving as a nation amid controversy about his Constitutional power to do so; Lincoln, who wanted to heal a divided nation sick of war when he called for all Americans—North and South—to mark a Thanksgiving Day; FDR, who set off a debate on state's rights when he changed the traditional date of Thanksgiving. Ordinary Americans also play key roles in the Thanksgiving story—the New England Indians who boycott Thanksgiving as a Day of Mourning; Sarah Josepha Hale, the nineteenth-century editor and feminist who successfully campaigned for Thanksgiving to be a national holiday; the 92nd Street Y in New York City, which founded Giving Tuesday, an online charity established in the long tradition of Thanksgiving generosity. Kirkpatrick also examines the history of Thanksgiving football and, of course, Thanksgiving dinner. While the rites and rituals of the holiday have evolved over the centuries, its essence remains the same: family and friends feasting together in a spirit of gratitude to God, neighborliness, and hospitality. Thanksgiving is Americans' oldest tradition. Kirkpatrick's enlightening exploration offers a fascinating look at the meaning of the holiday that we gather together to celebrate on the fourth Thursday of November. With Readings for Thanksgiving Day designed to be read aloud around the table.


America's Federal Holidays

America's Federal Holidays

Author: John De Gree

Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub

Published: 2013-11-16

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13: 9781494258474

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Teacher John De Gree has teamed up with New York Time's National Bestseller, Michael Allen, author of A Patriot's History of the United States of America, to bring to Americans the truth behind our federal holidays. Americans have forgotten the meaning behind its federal holidays. In efforts to revise our country's history and to increase our leisure time, our federal holidays have lost their power. We don't appreciate the peaceful passing of power from one party to another that takes place on Inauguration Day. We don't recall who inspired Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We overlook the courage and perseverance of George Washington, the Father of Our Country. Independence Day has become a day of fireworks and feasts, instead of a remembrance of liberty and sacrifices. Memorial Day and Labor Day have become a way to mark the beginning and ending of summer. Christopher Columbus has moved from a place of honor, to dislike, to ignorance in the minds of most. Many schoolchildren falsely believe the first Thanksgiving was held so the Pilgrims could thank the Indians. And Christmas, an official federal holiday, is a word that is not even uttered in public places for fear of offending someone. America's Federal Holidays, The True Story© promotes the heroic people and events that are the reason for America's federal holidays. This book will encourage Americans to appreciate the shared history of our people, understand the meaning behind each day, and strengthen our citizens and our republic. Knowledge and understanding of our history will help students realize the uniqueness of what it means to be an American, and will inspire students to be their best. The American Founding Fathers taught that for a republic to thrive, patriotism would be necessary. In order for citizens to make informed judgments, be inspired to defend their country, and be productive citizens, they should know the decisions earlier Americans made that helped make our country great. Americans should learn what inspired individuals to accomplish challenging tasks. In learning about the great accomplishments of those who came before us, we are inspired to accomplish great tasks, as well. A country with no heroes has no future. America's Federal Holidays, The True Story© provides the teacher and parent with well-written, inspiring histories of our holidays. The religious and faithful history of each day is truthfully taught. It is no coincidence that the United States of America has religion and faith as a cornerstone in its founding and throughout its history. It is a primary reason for the success and duration for the world's first modern republic.Lessons should be read out loud to students in classrooms and to whole families at home. Each lesson has a short essay that describes the most important parts of the holiday. Some lessons include primary source documents. These are followed by 10 text-dependent questions. These questions are designed for ages 8 and older, although there will be some younger children able to answer the questions, and, a few of the questions may be too challenging for some 8 year olds. After the 10 questions, there are a few questions marked “Research and Analysis.” For this, the teacher may assign one or all of the activities for the student to do on his own. These activities are more challenging than the 10 text-dependent questions, and are appropriate for ages 12 and older.


America's Public Holidays, 1865-1920

America's Public Holidays, 1865-1920

Author: Ellen M. Litwicki

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution

Published: 2013-08-06

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1588344169

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From the revered Memorial Day to the forgotten Lasties Day, America's Public Holidays is a timely and thoughtful analysis of how the civic culture of America has been fashioned. By analyzing how holidays became a forum for expressing patriotism, how public tradition has been invented, and how the definition of America itself was changed, Ellen Litwicki tells the intriguing story of the elite effort to create new holidays and the variety of responses from ordinary Americans.


Merry Christmas! Celebrating AmericaÕs Greatest Holiday

Merry Christmas! Celebrating AmericaÕs Greatest Holiday

Author: Karal Ann Marling

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2009-06-30

Total Pages: 470

ISBN-13: 9780674040625

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It wouldn't be Christmas without the "things." How they came to mean so much, and to play such a prominent role in America's central holiday, is the tale told in this delightful and edifying book. In a style characteristically engaging and erudite, Karal Ann Marling, one of our most trenchant observers of American culture, describes the outsize spectacle that Christmas has become.


Celebrating Easter

Celebrating Easter

Author: Joel Kupperstein

Publisher: Creative Teaching Press

Published: 1999-03

Total Pages: 20

ISBN-13: 9781574715712

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Learn about the symbols of Easter as well as Spring.