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A Christmas Cornucopia: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Yuletide Traditions
Hardcover
LinguisticsGeneral ChristianityGeneral World History
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ISBN13: 9780241267738
Publisher: Penguin Uk
Published: Aug 1 2018
Pages: 192
Weight: 1.75
Height: 0.70 Width: 4.50 Depth: 7.20
Language: English
For something that happens every year of our lives, we really don't know much about Christmas. We don't know that the date we celebrate was chosen by a madman, or that Christmas, etymologically speaking, means Go away, Christ. Nor do we know that Christmas was first celebrated in 243 AD on March 28--and only moved to December 25 in 354 AD. We're oblivious to the fact that the advent calendar was actually invented by a Munich housewife to stop her children pestering her for a Christmas countdown. And we would never have guessed that the invention of Christmas crackers was merely a way of popularizing sweet wrappers. Luckily, Mark Forsyth is here to unwrap this fundamentally funny gallimaufry of traditions and oddities, making it all finally make sense--in his wonderfully entertaining wordy way.
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