Inventing Christmas: How Our Holiday Came to Be

by Jock Elliott

Looks at the nineteenth-century origins of modern-day Christmas traditions, which evolved over a twenty-five year period, beginning in 1823 with the publication of Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas" to 1848, in a volume that features an array of vintage illustrations by Thomas Nast, Everett Shinn, Arthur Rackham, and others. 10,000 first printing.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Christmas, Holiday, Folklore

128 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2002

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pulled out of a little free library. I love that the author was diligent in their research. A self professed xmas lover he still delved into the origins of the modern holiday. I enjoyed reading this and put it back into little free library to continue its journey.

[Lenore Kuipers-Cummins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an unusual book. It is comprised totally of all of the authors' own sources (which he lists in the back of the book) of at least 3,000 first editions about the origins of our Christmas traditions. I didn't realize that Christmas, as we know it now, wasn't always like it is today, but only from 1823-1848. A lot of our traditions originally came from Germany.
The author shows many examples of how Santa Claus was invented, Christmas shopping, Christmas trees and cards, and Christmas carols from his own collection.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A RICHLY-ILLUSTRATED SURVEY OF (MOSTLY SECULAR) CUSTOMS

Author Jock Elliott wrote in the Introduction to this 2002 book, “For most people Christmas comes but once a year. Not so for me. I have collected Christmas books for the past fifty years---books of stories, poems, and carols, books about the customs and traditions of Christmas, books of Yuletide illustrations, lighthearted books for children and heavy books for scholars, even medieval illuminated manuscripts---all qualify…They range from near-junk to unique rarity… Over time, I have learned quite a bit about Christmas. I learned how Puritans attacked Christians … and tried to abolish it altogether… I found that many of our age-old customs… were not so age-old at all… most of our Christmas customs were invented in an amazingly short twenty-five-year period, from 1823 to 1848---a sort of ‘Big Bang’ of our Christmas… This book deals mainly with the secular, festival aspects of Christmas, rather than the religious.”

He observes, “The early Christian Church struggled to become established. Its leaders understood the powerful hold the midwinter festival had on pagan worshippers. December 25 was celebrated in honor of Mithra, the sun-god… Mithra posed a real threat to Christianity; it is not surprising that, in the fourth century, the Church decreed that henceforth the 25th of December would be recognized as the day of Christ’s Nativity. The Church hoped to draw the pagans [to] worship of the Son of God.” (Pg. 20)

He notes, “It is surprising that Santa Claus is always associated with ‘The Night Before Christmas,’ yet Santa Claus is never mentioned in this poem! In captions to his pictures, Thomas Nast always referred to Santa Claus and never to St. Nick, thereby further entrenching Santa in our culture.” (Pg. 47)

He concludes, “In the Christian world, Christmas is our great midwinter festival. We celebrate the birth of Jesus. In our own way, we celebrate eternal life as taught by Jesus. The life of the soul. Our secular festivities have an age-old pagan ring to them, such as feasting, drinking, and the decoration of our houses with evergreens and lights. It is easy to think of our Christmas customs and traditions as being age-old, but they are not. Up to the nineteenth century, Christmas as we know it had never existed in this country. No Santa Claus, no shopping for presents, no Christmas trees, no Christmas cards, no Scrooge. Between 1822 and 1848… all these ‘traditions’ were invented. Hooray for the inventions, say I. They give us all a good time.” (Pg. 124)

This richly-illustrated book will be of great interest to those studying Christmas customs and traditions.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jock Elliott was an amazing collector of Christmas ephemera and books. He even had letters that he wrote to Santa in the 1920's! His book was urged on by friends and coworkers who were astonished at his diverse (and valuable) collection. He writes about the history of Christmas and about traditions that came to the US from other parts of the world. He explains how Santa, St Nicolas and the Greek Nicolaos were portrayed in stories and in pictures. He spends a chapter on the writing of The Christmas Carol (Dickens) and on the writing of Christmas carols and songs. The chapter on Christmas trees and decorations was brief but interesting. The pictures in this book are phenomenal and Elliott seemed to know which Thomas Nast drawing would make a beautiful cover. I enjoyed this lovely book. Wonder what happened to the extensive collection now that the childless Jock Elliott has died?

[Elaine Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Checked out of library (Beatley) and in progress looked up on Amazon with a view to adding to wish list. Found a used copy listed in like new condition (we'll see) and ordered for gift for Jean.
Beuatiful pictures from the author's collection along with fascinating story of how the Christmas celebration we know was mostly from a short 25 year period in the 19th century. Some I was familiar with but a lot was new and with a new realization of the timeline and major influences resposible.

[Suzanna Brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally a random library find and decided to buy it because I loved it so much. I thumb through it every Christmas season. 4 stars only because it's a bit brief and not fully comprehensive, but I actually prefer that because it makes it more receptive, for me. So, 5 stars for me; 4 stars for the general public :)
I love that Jock writes about the origins of every aspect of Christmas, being a lifetime mega-fan of Christmas himself. It reads like an adult picture book (yes please thank you) and I love the personal touch he provides by including his own personal Christmas memorabilia.

[John Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little book of the origins of our modern Christmas customs. The author lovingly acknowledges Christmas as the feast of the Nativity of Christ but shows that most of the traditions we hold today at Christmas are of rather recent developments based on nostalgia for perceived practices of the more ancient eras. Some are outright inventions like the Christmas card. A festive little book to read at Christmas time.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book to look at, but not wide ranging. A short chapter on the Christmas tree but no mention of the history of ornaments, no conversation on meaning of evergreen decorations, meals, or other traditions. Could have been 30 pages longer with additional topics without suffering from bloat.

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated but light on content.

[Marie Winger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun! Our most cherished Christmas traditions - cards, the tree, Santa, gift giving- all came into Vogue from 1828 to 1848.

[Thomas Andrikus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick, light read on the history of Christmas, consisting of 127 pages (roughly half are filled with full-page illustrations though).

Some of the interesting trivia:

1. December 25 was celebrated in honor of Mithra, the sun-god. In 4th century, the Church decreed that henceforth the 25th of December would be recognized as the Day of Christ's Nativity, in hope to draw the pagans away from sun-god to Son of God.

2. Christmas was once made illegal. In 1647, under Oliver Cromwell, an act of Parliament forbade the observance of Christmas. In 1659, under the Puritan government in Mass., it became illegal to celebrate Christmas. The Puritans decided since they couldn't Christianize Christmas, they would abolish it altogether. (p.25)

3. "Charles II revived the holiday in England after the Restoration, and the 1659 law in the colonies was revoked in 1681." (p.26)

4. It was Thomas Nast, a young German immigrant to USA during Civil War, who invented the visual prototype of the Santa Claus we know today, the location of Santa's workshop at North Pole, as well as Santa's custom of keeping record on good kids. (p.57)

5. Christmas carols were the only tradition that existed prior to the 19th century. Between 1823 to 1848, the Christmas "traditions" or "customs" that we know today were invented. These include Christmas cards (from England), Christmas trees (from Germany), and Santa Claus (from USA

6. Prior to the 20th century, Christmas was not a national holiday in United Kingdom.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This little book was somewhat bland, though I don't know if it was because the "history" it purports to relate was so incredibly brief, or because the text somehow lacked authority. None of the actual facts or stories related in the book seemed truthful to me. The style reminded me of someone doing a high school book report: first, read a number of sources; second, contrive to blend them all together into an amalgamation of broad facts that no one will be interested in enough to deny; third, collect your "A."

The main interest of the book, for me, came in its design. Almost every page is adorned with an image from one of the many Christmas books in the author's collection. These are interesting as cultural fossils, though perhaps it would be more interesting to read one of the selected books in its entirety.

All in all, there's not much to recommend this book besides the dreary nostalgia of old Christmas images. If you love that famous Coke ad with Santa in it, this book is for you.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each chapter gives a brief written explanation on how one narrow aspect of Christmas came to be (for example, carols, Christmas trees, and Christmas cards) and then embellishes with stunning images. The text reads like a story rather than a historical compendium, avoiding the multiple scholarly views on topics in favor of a flowing narrative. Its main purpose is simply to provide a framework and background for the illustrations. The chapter on “How Our Santa Claus Was Invented” is completely engrossing. The reader can literally watch the evolution of the saintly man in bishop's vestments to the pipe-smoking, chimney-descending “jolly old elf” and finally to the modern red-robed, rotund, full-bearded man we now see at every mall during the month of December.

For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book out loud to my 7 year old. She seemed to enjoy it. I got the recommendation for this from Raising Freethinkers, a book on raising children without the indoctrination of religion. I was expecting more of a background on the things that precludes Christmas, such as the Winter Soltice and the like. What this book actually gave was a very short explanation of this, followed by a relatively decent history of Christmas and it's traditions that we have today. This wasn't a bad book by any means, but it certainly wasn't what I was looking for.

[Stacy Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most wonderful thing about this book is all the photos. Jock Elliott has an amazing collection of Christmas books. I'd be salivating to actually see and browse the real collection. This book is really fun to read. As soon as I saw the actual letters that he wrote to Santa as a little boy I was hooked. One thing I learned was how people used to give each other Christmas/New Year books. I had never heard of those before. Too bad the tradition stopped!

[Jason Milligan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is primarily a cursory look at the history of Christmas wrapped in images from the authors expansive collection of Christmas books and ephemera. The writing is mediocre and the facts are hurriedly relayed. If you are interested in a more in-depth look at the history of the holiday, I recommend Christmas: A Candid History by Bruce David Forbes and The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas by John Matthews.

[jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always thought that Jesus was the reason for the season, but he really isn't. We have know idea what day his birth took place. The giving of presents started in the 19th century and it wasn't all about the children. This book is really cool with lots of artwork and pictures of old cards. The author has a huge personal collection of his own.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is notable for its many colored illustrations from the author's impressive collection of Christmas memorabilia. The text is satisfactory, especially for those curious about the development of US customs such as Santa Claus, Christmas trees and cards, and carols.

[Nikki Tate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would love to see this author's private library of books relating to Christmas. My favourite aspect of this book was the inclusion of memorabilia, including one of the author's childhood letters to Santa.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely review of Christmas traditions, well illustrated.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book makes a great Christmas gift.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this very interesting! I like reading about this sort of history and how certain traditions have come about. The author collects Christmas books and has over 3000 books in his collection!

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book! Visually engaging and an easy, interesting read.