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- catalog abstract ""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."--Jacket.".
- catalog contributor b8233820.
- catalog coverage "United States Social life and customs.".
- catalog created "1995.".
- catalog date "1995".
- catalog date "1995.".
- catalog dateCopyrighted "1995.".
- catalog description ""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."--Jacket.".
- catalog description "European inheritances: Christmas in the Colonies -- Red-letter days: Christmas and the new American calendar -- The beginnings of a modern Christmas -- Home for Christmas: family, religion, and Santa Claus -- Home for Christmas: Christmas trees and Christmas giving -- Christmas in the Slave South -- A holiday for the nation -- A traditional American Christmas -- Gilding Christmas: gifts, charity, and commerce -- The American Santa Claus -- A frame of mind: Christmas in the twentieth century.".
- catalog description "Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-209) and index.".
- catalog extent "x, 219 p. :".
- catalog hasFormat "Christmas in America.".
- catalog identifier "0195093003 (acid-free paper)".
- catalog isFormatOf "Christmas in America.".
- catalog issued "1995".
- catalog issued "1995.".
- catalog language "eng".
- catalog publisher "New York : Oxford University Press,".
- catalog relation "Christmas in America.".
- catalog spatial "United States Social life and customs.".
- catalog spatial "United States".
- catalog subject "394.2/663/09 20".
- catalog subject "Christmas United States History.".
- catalog subject "GT4986.A1 R47 1995".
- catalog tableOfContents "European inheritances: Christmas in the Colonies -- Red-letter days: Christmas and the new American calendar -- The beginnings of a modern Christmas -- Home for Christmas: family, religion, and Santa Claus -- Home for Christmas: Christmas trees and Christmas giving -- Christmas in the Slave South -- A holiday for the nation -- A traditional American Christmas -- Gilding Christmas: gifts, charity, and commerce -- The American Santa Claus -- A frame of mind: Christmas in the twentieth century.".
- catalog title "Christmas in America : a history / Penne L. Restad.".
- catalog type "History. fast".
- catalog type "text".