4000 Years of Christmas: A Gift from the Ages

by Earl W. Count, Alice Lawson Count, Dan Wakefield (Introduction)

A detailed look at the origins of Christmas celebrations ranges from before Jesus's birth and includes Rome's pagan Saturnalia customs, the Druids burning of Yule logs and their use of mistletoe to appease the gods, Saint Nicholas, and many other myths and traditions that will fascinate and delight readers. IP.

Genres: History, Christmas, Nonfiction, Religion

108 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1990

Reviews

[Shaunesay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, pretty general, gives a basis for where/when many Christmas traditions originated. probably too vague/general for history buffs.

[Megan Conley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I wanted to know more about the history of Christmas and its traditions. This book did not really fulfill my wants. For one, I couldn't really follow the conclusions. For example, the author claimed that Santa Claus gets a lot of his characterization and following from Odin. Okay, that is a bold claim that I was willing to follow. The problem was that his support wasn't really there. I read the whole thing thinking that I was reading badly done (or at least badly argued) history.

I also had a problem with the writing style. It was extremely bland and too flowery in places that it didn't need to be. All in all, I would pick another book if you wanted to read about the history of Christmas.

[SAWthegirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really enjoy this too much. While I was reading it switching discussing about how different cultures and religions interchangeably, which was a bit confusing to me.

[Elizabeth]

I found this book to be distasteful and disrespectful. In order to explain why, I am going to draw from a TV show that deals with a similar concept.

In one episode of M*A*S*H, Col. Potter says that he had chosen to get married on Groundhog's day so that he would never forget his anniversary. This is a sort of cute idea, and two special days -- one a holiday and the other a day of personal significance -- would coincide. Potter and his wife would celebrate both things on the same day, and it is possible that the festivities might blend together in his mind and in the minds of his friends and close family. For example, the phrase "six more weeks of winter" might remind him to buy a gift; "anniversary" might call to mind furry little rodents.

However, these two different occasions are not, could not possibly be, one and the same. His daughter is married, for instance, and it would be ridiculous to suggest that she checked the whether, glanced at a rat, and called it a wedding. Just because two events coincide does not mean that they are interchangeable, and that is the central flaw of this book.

Most people today recognize that the day we celebrate as Christmas coincides with (or, at least, comes within a few days of) many ancient pagan festivals. This does not mean that Christmas IS a pagan festival, although book claims that it is; specifically, it claims that Christmas is a version of Saturnalia [an ancient Roman festival]. Count writes, "The habit of Saturnalia was too strong to be left behind. At first the Church forbade it, but in vain. When a river meets a boulder which will not be moved, the river flows around it. If the Saturnalia would not be forbidden, let it be tamed. The Church Fathers now sought to point the festival toward the Christian Sun of Righteousness." Ouch.

He also claims that Christmas celebrations today are a watered-down version of the Babylonian and Persian annual tradition of human sacrifice, called Sacaea. I am not kidding. He writes, "One and the same basic idea . . . has . . . caught up with itself wearing another guise." Yes, this tradition occurred close to the same time of year. And sure, when different events happen at the same time, some ways of celebrating may be shared. This might be what happened with Saturnalia, with some minor traditions such as lighting candles being shared. On the other hand, this was before electricity -- didn't everyone use candles anyway? And Sacaea? Human sacrifice?!?

Count's evidence for these brash claims are sketchy at best. He says that the inspiration for "Santa Claus" is only partly St. Nicholas, and that Santa is really a blend between the Christian saint and the Norse god Odin. He supports this claim, in part, by saying that Odin's symbol was a boar. Then he quotes the Christmas tune known as "The Boar's Head Carol." Okay, so Christians ate boar. Among other things. Big deal! I eat bacon--does that mean that I worship Odin's great-aunt Edna? No! And this carol was one of many that focuses on festivities rather than religious doctrine. There are Christmas songs about decorating, building snowmen, shopping for gifts, and eating figgy pudding. Wait! Maybe I should write a book revealing how snowmen are actually a testament to the marble statues of ancient Greece, and we're all really just honoring Athena and Aphrodite without realizing it! Or maybe it's just a snowman . . . .

I feel really bad for slamming this book, as the author clearly has done a great deal of research, and there are several chapters that are nice to read. He also includes the words to some early Christmas carols, and they were a pleasure to read. However, he could have tracked some Christmas traditions without pushing his own agenda so forcefully and tactlessly. And he did, in places. For example, some people believed that evergreen plants brought the life of summer into the winter. Count writes, "Box, bay, ivy, holly, yew, larch, juniper, pine, spruce, fir--all are shields against the witches and demons [of winter]." That's interesting. That's history. Why couldn't the rest of the book be like that.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

this read like a very boring essay

[Michael Potts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had some interesting tidbits of information but I can't help but think that it was written in such a way as to make it hard to follow and difficult to understand. The author had a strange present-tense, overly symbolic way of writing that got in the way of the information and made it difficult to actually take anything in.

That said, it's a FAST read. I'm reminded of a scene with Jacob and Robert Marley in Muppet Christmas Carol:

Robert Marley – “It was dumb!”
Jacob Marley – “It was obvious!”
Robert Marley – “It was pointless!”
Jacob Marley – “It was… short!”
Jacob Marley, Robert Marley – “I loved it!”

[Cooe Arendas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does a good job of explaining the influences different regions, peoples and religions shaped Christmas as we know it today. Though was a little hard to follow at times.
It doesn’t appear terribly biased towards Christianity as the beginning lead me to expect. Although, there is a small bias present at no point does it seem over powering.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty decently compelling little book about different traditions and customs associated with Christmas. I really enjoyed reading the different stories. This was a perfect read to get me into the Christmas spirit.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some out of nowhere conclusions to chapters that I didn't understand (such as Woden/Odin being Santa Claus), but I learned some things. Overall, I enjoyed the connection of threads from different times/places/traditions that have added up to how many celebrate Christmas now.

[S.L. Baron · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick overview of different Christmas traditions. It would be a good starting point to more in-depth research.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a not-very-coherent account of the history of Christmas. Easy to read and short, it was too concise and not very logical.

[Min · Rating 3 out of 5]

Working the long history of many Yule traditions into a single, building narrative travels from Marduk to Saturn to Odin to St. Nicholas then on to the meaning of greens, the calendar, the tree.
This work felt more fiction than fact when it tried to link each of these elements into a single story. That leaves far too many loose ends, and too much stretching to make facts read as one would like to imagine them.
At best, it shows that trees, greenery, and life are long themes of humanity. The prose is rather flowery for my taste. It is a brief book, otherwise, the florid style is too difficult to tolerate for long.

[Lora Shouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little jewel of a book traces the history of Christmas, beginning well before the start of the Christian religion. It began as a festival celebrating the New Year, a time when every year Marduk, who had originally fought off the monsters of chaos, built an orderly world, and created humankind, had to fight the monsters of chaos again to ensure that the world did not die. The festival was how the people helped him in his battle. Many of the customs that were later associated with Christmas (and with other aspects of other religions of the times between Marduk’s heyday and the beginnings of Christianity) began then. The idea traveled through Greece to Rome, where it morphed into the Saturnalia festival. The idea also traveled through the Baltic countries to the far north.

Later, after the early Christians had decided (after much debate about the matter) to begin celebrating the birthday of Christ (they never cared when his birthday really was), many of these traditions, sometimes greatly modified, worked their way into the celebrations of Christmas.

They also cover the folklore regarding many of the northern traditions that also became associated with Christmas, and give the sources of many things you would not expect to find associated with Christmas. They cover the stories of the origin of Saint Nicholas (and how he apparently merged with the Norse god Odin to become associated with Christmas). They look for the origin of the Christmas tree; apparently, it derived from the greens hung about the home and church to keep the winter demons out.

All in all an entertaining and enlightening read.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This actually was interesting seeing how the stories of so many cultures combined and recombined to become what we know as Christmas today.