The purpose of the "December" unit is to assist elementary school teachers in teaching a multicultural unit emphasizing December holidays: Kwanzaa, Hanukkah (Chanukah), and Christmas around world. Included are poems, worksheets, recipes, and art ideas. Enclosed is a child's book highlighting the December holidays that can be reproduced so the child can take it home and share it with his or her family. By studying a variety of countries, the children learn that a considerable number of holiday customs have their origin in the many cultures and ethnic groups that came to America.
Ever wonder where some of our unique and meaningful Christmas traditions come from? Why are red and green popular colors of the season? Why is exchanging gifts a family tradition? Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas reveals the people, places, and events that shaped the best-loved customs of this merriest of holidays and how they all point to Christ. Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas includes insights about: Gift giving Christmas trees Caroling Nativity scenes Yule logs Stockings Advent wreaths Mistletoe Holly, and more! This is the perfect gift to infuse your celebration with spiritual insights, true-life tales, and captivating legends to intrigue you and your family. Bring new luster and depth to your modern traditions while you celebrate Jesus' birth. The traditions of Christmas lend beauty, awe, and hope to the holiday, causing people all over the world to anticipate it with joy. Warm your heart as you rediscover the true and eternal significance of Christmas.
"Perry's work is original, comprehensively researched, and a major contribution to understanding the central importance of the evolution of a consumer culture in modern Germany. The scholarship is sound, impressive, and provocative."ùRudy Koshar, University of Wisconsin-Madison --
Why do we decorate Christmas trees? Do all children receive gifts on the same day? Come find out as Monika Utnik-Strugala captures the smells, tastes, and unforgettable traditions about the most popular, exciting, contemplative, and unique Christmas customs and legends from around the world. Find out why celebrate Christmas on December 25th, who invented the first glass ornament, why people build nativity scenes, and more! A truly international collection of legends and traditions are included in the volume such as - Glögg, Kutia, Lutefisk, Jansson's Temptation, Julskinka, Bûche de Noël, Hallaca, Kourabiedes, Christmas Pudding, Panettone, Christmas carols, talking animals, and The Nutcracker!
A delightful and charming story celebrating Christmas in Lagos, a modern West African city. This picture book explores the sights and sounds of Lagos at Christmas through the eyes and words of a little Nigerian girl writing a Christmas journal. A cold, dry wind blew in from the Sahara desert and into Ranti's room It is ten days to Christmas, and also the last day of school. Ranti, a six year old girl who lives in the West African city of Lagos, Nigeria, sits in class and listens to her classmates describe all the exciting, far-away places they will visit during the Christmas holidays. Many of them will travel abroad for Christmas with their families. Ranti feels left out, and believes that her Christmas will be the most boring Christmas ever because she will be spending it in the city where she lives: Lagos. Because there is no snow in Lagos, she won't go ice skating or build a frosty snowman. However, with the encouragement of her class teacher, Miss Ani, Ranti starts a Christmas journal where she details all the amazing things that take place in the city of Lagos during Christmas. Although there is no snow in Lagos, and no tower to visit, Ranti develops a newfound appreciation for Lagos, and discovers all the exciting reasons that make Christmas in Lagos so special. Children will learn that you don't need to travel to exotic places to enjoy Christmas in your own town, city or village. Children will also learn the value of keeping a daily journal or diary. This picture book is a celebration of all the wonderful things that make Christmas special in Lagos. Readers of all ages will love following Ranti's journey through her Christmas diary, as she takes us through Lagos at Christmastime. It is also a celebration of all the things that make a Nigerian Christmas truly special, including Christmas concerts and Christmas carols in Nigerian languages. Perfect for read-alouds and storytime. Recommended for 4 - 8 year old children, preschoolers, kindergaten kids, toddlers and readers of all ages.
What darkness lurks beneath the Season of Lights? T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring … but are you sure about that? The dark winter nights can hold many secrets. Sylvia Shults has gathered over 120 tales of Christmas ghosts, giving new meaning to "the dead of winter". Shults organizes the book around seven themes. They encompass everything from strange Christmas customs ("We Wish You A Merry Christmas … Or Else!"), to the season's monsters ("He Sees You When You're Sleeping"), to ghost stories of Christmas ("'Tis The Season" and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear"). Unwrap this book, and shiver your way through this great collection of gho-ho-hosts.
Explores global traditions surrounding birthdays, including cake, parties, and decorations. Additional features to aid comprehension include a table of contents, a phonetic glossary, informative captions, detailed maps, sources for further research, an index, and introductions to the author and illustrator.
Written for everyone who loves and is simultaneously driven crazy by the holiday season, Christmas: A Candid History provides an enlightening, entertaining perspective on how the annual Yuletide celebration got to be what it is today. In a fascinating, concise tour through history, the book tells the story of Christmas—from its pre-Christian roots, through the birth of Jesus, to the holiday's spread across Europe into the Americas and beyond, and to its mind-boggling transformation through modern consumerism. Packed with intriguing stories, based on research into myriad sources, full of insights, the book explores the historical origins of traditions including Santa, the reindeer, gift giving, the Christmas tree, Christmas songs and movies, and more. The book also offers some provocative ideas for reclaiming the joy and meaning of this beloved, yet often frustrating, season amid the pressures of our fast-paced consumer culture. DID YOU KNOW For three centuries Christians did not celebrate Christmas? Puritans in England and New England made Christmas observances illegal? St. Nicholas is an elf in the famous poem "The Night Before Christmas"? President Franklin Roosevelt changed the dateof Thanksgiving in order to lengthen the Christmas shopping season? Coca-Cola helped fashion Santa Claus's look in an advertising campaign?
The best holiday traditions are meant to be broken. It's only December 1, and Vanessa Clayton has been dreading Christmas since she spotted tinseled trees at her local mall in September. Thankfully, she and her husband, JT, can't afford to drag their twin boys across the country to New England for the annual celebration at her stuffy sister-in-law Patience's home. Not that Vanessa has prepared a proper Christmas for her family in years, and she has less time than ever since she agreed to consult on the script of a local play. Her older sister, Thea, is no help -- she'd rather make art and flirt with surfers than babysit her nine-year-old nephews. Then Patience drops a holiday stress bomb: Her family will come to California instead. In between "baking" cinnamon rolls for the school potluck and overbearing Patience testing her patience, Vanessa can't stop thinking about the difficult but charming playwright at work. Meanwhile, Patience's teenage daughter, Libby, obsesses over a college boy she has met by the pool, and Thea searches desperately for the meaning of Christmas -- for her latest installation, of course. As their holiday plans go comically awry, these four women discover the true spirit of the season is hidden in every festive surprise.
