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The Book of Christmas
Part of the Enchanted World Time-Life series
141 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 2, 2018
This book is featured on Shabby Sunday and you can see my full review including pictures @ https://readrantrockandroll.com/2018/...
I started collecting the books in this series early last year and I still have four more to collect. I've enjoyed a few while others weren't favorites. I wanted to review this volume at Christmastime, but didn't get around to it. I finally finished it last night. My copy is in excellent condition. When I opened it--it was like it had never been read. The pages are perfect and cover is intact. The only issue is some fading on the spine. This book was published in 1986.
The book opens and ends with the story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. I was instantly captivated by the exquisite artwork right away, which has been my reaction on every volume I've read in the series thus far. There are many tales and legends to enjoy with origins from different places like Norway and Scotland to name a few. I especially enjoyed learning about the multiple festivities and holidays celebrated in the winter including Saint Andrew's Day, Saint Lucia's Day, Saint Nicholas' Day, and Brigit's Day.
"The Nutcracker" is one of my favorite Christmas stories and it's included with many illustrations. There are many gift-bringing legends shared including, but not limited to: Befana (an old woman who gave presents to Italian children), Christkndl (an angel that visited German families on Christmas Eve), and The Julnissen (household elves in Norway and Denmark that hide presents on Christmas Eve). Most of the volumes I've read in this series contain some fairly dark artwork and this book includes a few as well. I loved the song section which includes various Christmas songs, one of my favorites being "Good King Wenceslas".
Overall, there's so much to learn in this book. I have to say that there's a little bit of everything and it's a nice all-around collection of legends, myths, songs and folk tales from different parts of the world that anyone can enjoy.
4-stars.
I started collecting the books in this series early last year and I still have four more to collect. I've enjoyed a few while others weren't favorites. I wanted to review this volume at Christmastime, but didn't get around to it. I finally finished it last night. My copy is in excellent condition. When I opened it--it was like it had never been read. The pages are perfect and cover is intact. The only issue is some fading on the spine. This book was published in 1986.
The book opens and ends with the story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. I was instantly captivated by the exquisite artwork right away, which has been my reaction on every volume I've read in the series thus far. There are many tales and legends to enjoy with origins from different places like Norway and Scotland to name a few. I especially enjoyed learning about the multiple festivities and holidays celebrated in the winter including Saint Andrew's Day, Saint Lucia's Day, Saint Nicholas' Day, and Brigit's Day.
"The Nutcracker" is one of my favorite Christmas stories and it's included with many illustrations. There are many gift-bringing legends shared including, but not limited to: Befana (an old woman who gave presents to Italian children), Christkndl (an angel that visited German families on Christmas Eve), and The Julnissen (household elves in Norway and Denmark that hide presents on Christmas Eve). Most of the volumes I've read in this series contain some fairly dark artwork and this book includes a few as well. I loved the song section which includes various Christmas songs, one of my favorites being "Good King Wenceslas".
Overall, there's so much to learn in this book. I have to say that there's a little bit of everything and it's a nice all-around collection of legends, myths, songs and folk tales from different parts of the world that anyone can enjoy.
4-stars.
November 27, 2022
I did not want this book to end!
December 26, 2022
Christmas really is a weird holiday. Basically, it's the Nativity story, Yule, Saturnalia, and a whole host of other traditions in a trenchcoat masquerading as a single holiday. But at the heart of it is light and merriment and the hope of new beginnings with the return of the sun. This book takes a broad look at various traditions associated with the holiday and their origins, along with some gorgeous illustrations as always with the Enchanted World books. Can definitely recommend to anyone who'se interested in the origins of things like Christmas trees, Yule logs, Christmas gifts and Santa.
December 17, 2020
I enjoyed this more than I thought. I wove together traditions of ancient Romans, Celtic cultures with the traditions and stories of modern Christmas. It was an enjoyable read, and interesting to see how the time of the winter solstice has been a time for celebration of light for centuries.
December 18, 2020
It starts with Luke and ends with Matthew. While not as international in storytelling it does a nice job of talking about Christian and pagan customs and stories in Europe, British Isles and Icelandic/Norse. Also in the gospel story of Matthew it has nice writing about how Christian and pagan tradition became blended together to create our modern traditions of Christmas.
December 29, 2019
Another beautiful collection of folklore and mythology from the Enchanted World Series, gorgeously illustrated. To be especially commended for not only including both Christian and pagan traditions, but showing how they weave in and out of one another to create our contemporary secular holiday. Highlights include a comparison of gift giving supernaturals from around Europe, and a stellar retelling of the Nutcracker that neither downplays nor overdoes the surreal darkness of the story. The inclusion of lyrics to a number of popular carols and the breakdown of each major winter holiday in the full Christmas season make this a must have for folklorist and collectors of Christmas apocryphia.
June 22, 2021
The best part of is book is the new Christmas carols I want to seek out the music to.
December 15, 2023
A HISTORICAL STUDY OF BOTH CHRISTIAN AND NON-CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS
Brendan Lehane wrote in the first chapter of this 1986 book, “The heart of Christmas lies in this scene, played out sixty generations past… A line of travelers straggled up the track. Some of other travelers marched along… Among the riders was a woman, and she was Mary the Virgin, heavy with child. A man strode beside her; he was Joseph, her husband. They had come from Galilee… to register for the tax decreed by the Roman Caesar Augustus…” (Pg. 7)
He adds, “Jesus was born to Mary in Bethlehem, in a cave perhaps, or a stable, or even in that room of a house where Jewish peasants sheltered their cattle. Miraculous tokens informed some shepherds nearby, later a great star blazed out in the heavens as sign and guide to some wise men living in countries far to the east that they should journey in search of a newborn king. That is the whole of the chronicle. The rest is garlands, added by subsequent ages---by monks, scribes, priests, wits, storytellers and common people…Nothing from the time portrays Joseph, the shepherds, the inn, the innkeepers. The year itself is in doubt, and the time of year a topic merely for speculation and casuistical wrangles. It would be some three hundred years before the date of the birth was fixed by the elders of the new religion and Christmas was set at the 25th of December.” (Pg. 13)
He explains, “The dates and natures of winter ceremonies and celebrations varied from race to race…Yet all of these rites were gathered at last under the mantle of Christian celebration, and while the origins were forgotten, traces of the old ceremonies remained. These traces were to be found in the devotion to the flames of candles and to the blazing of Yule logs, in … curious rituals and games that echoed ancient and forgotten sacrifices, in feasting… in garlands of holly and ivy and evergreen, in the raising of Christmas trees, in the giving of presents…The attributes of Christmas are those of light and dark. It is the time for joy and worship, celebration and good will. But these are all spiced with a pleasurable tingle of fear, the relic of an ancient apprehension that flowered on the solstice night, when death and darkness stalked the world.” (Pg. 17)
He acknowledges, “Even when Christianity and its rituals had absorbed and gentled the Yule celebration, people remembered the old gods and said that they returned to claim the human dead. When the winter wind howled outside, filling the world with cloud and snow, the folk of the northern lands heard the mighty shout of Odin, hunting the skies with a wild band of lost and hungry souls. It was death to Christians to see this …Yuletide Host. Wise folk kept safe in their houses.” (Pg. 45-48)
He states, “Feasting and nonsense, the giving of gifts, the lighting lights, all were absorbed into the Christian Christmas celebration, fixed in the Fourth Century on December 25, so that it might displace the rituals of the great pagan winter festivals. The Roman legacy to Christianity was altogether jollier than the Yuletide activities of northern Europe, where the winter ritual was a feast of the dead, crowded with malign spirits and devils and with the haunting presence of Odin and his night riders… The great midwinter fires of the Norsemen lived on in the Yule log that filled familiar hearths.” (Pg. 85)
He concludes, “The Christmas story was the radiant heart of the season. Yet the branches garlanding churches and houses were the holly and ivy of elder beliefs, the customs surrounding the holiday were those of remote ages. Thus grim Odin, blended with generous Saint Nicholas… survives in the bluff and rubicund gift bringer, Santa Claus… Thus the old pagan sacrifices of winter were bent and shaped to new scenes, emerging as the mock heroics of Saint George in the mummers’ plays or as village rites such as the hunting of the wren. There was room for all of them in the new order, room for the elder gods and their ceremonies, room for the ancient ghosts of death and night, room for the lords of frost and snow. These memories were fitted by the common folk into the patterns of their lives and cherished without fear. In the Child born at Bethlehem, they had the promise of spring in the heart of midwinter, the divine gift of a bright, cleansing flame to drive away the dark.” (Pg. 135)
This book will interest some interested in the origins of Christmas and related subjects.
Brendan Lehane wrote in the first chapter of this 1986 book, “The heart of Christmas lies in this scene, played out sixty generations past… A line of travelers straggled up the track. Some of other travelers marched along… Among the riders was a woman, and she was Mary the Virgin, heavy with child. A man strode beside her; he was Joseph, her husband. They had come from Galilee… to register for the tax decreed by the Roman Caesar Augustus…” (Pg. 7)
He adds, “Jesus was born to Mary in Bethlehem, in a cave perhaps, or a stable, or even in that room of a house where Jewish peasants sheltered their cattle. Miraculous tokens informed some shepherds nearby, later a great star blazed out in the heavens as sign and guide to some wise men living in countries far to the east that they should journey in search of a newborn king. That is the whole of the chronicle. The rest is garlands, added by subsequent ages---by monks, scribes, priests, wits, storytellers and common people…Nothing from the time portrays Joseph, the shepherds, the inn, the innkeepers. The year itself is in doubt, and the time of year a topic merely for speculation and casuistical wrangles. It would be some three hundred years before the date of the birth was fixed by the elders of the new religion and Christmas was set at the 25th of December.” (Pg. 13)
He explains, “The dates and natures of winter ceremonies and celebrations varied from race to race…Yet all of these rites were gathered at last under the mantle of Christian celebration, and while the origins were forgotten, traces of the old ceremonies remained. These traces were to be found in the devotion to the flames of candles and to the blazing of Yule logs, in … curious rituals and games that echoed ancient and forgotten sacrifices, in feasting… in garlands of holly and ivy and evergreen, in the raising of Christmas trees, in the giving of presents…The attributes of Christmas are those of light and dark. It is the time for joy and worship, celebration and good will. But these are all spiced with a pleasurable tingle of fear, the relic of an ancient apprehension that flowered on the solstice night, when death and darkness stalked the world.” (Pg. 17)
He acknowledges, “Even when Christianity and its rituals had absorbed and gentled the Yule celebration, people remembered the old gods and said that they returned to claim the human dead. When the winter wind howled outside, filling the world with cloud and snow, the folk of the northern lands heard the mighty shout of Odin, hunting the skies with a wild band of lost and hungry souls. It was death to Christians to see this …Yuletide Host. Wise folk kept safe in their houses.” (Pg. 45-48)
He states, “Feasting and nonsense, the giving of gifts, the lighting lights, all were absorbed into the Christian Christmas celebration, fixed in the Fourth Century on December 25, so that it might displace the rituals of the great pagan winter festivals. The Roman legacy to Christianity was altogether jollier than the Yuletide activities of northern Europe, where the winter ritual was a feast of the dead, crowded with malign spirits and devils and with the haunting presence of Odin and his night riders… The great midwinter fires of the Norsemen lived on in the Yule log that filled familiar hearths.” (Pg. 85)
He concludes, “The Christmas story was the radiant heart of the season. Yet the branches garlanding churches and houses were the holly and ivy of elder beliefs, the customs surrounding the holiday were those of remote ages. Thus grim Odin, blended with generous Saint Nicholas… survives in the bluff and rubicund gift bringer, Santa Claus… Thus the old pagan sacrifices of winter were bent and shaped to new scenes, emerging as the mock heroics of Saint George in the mummers’ plays or as village rites such as the hunting of the wren. There was room for all of them in the new order, room for the elder gods and their ceremonies, room for the ancient ghosts of death and night, room for the lords of frost and snow. These memories were fitted by the common folk into the patterns of their lives and cherished without fear. In the Child born at Bethlehem, they had the promise of spring in the heart of midwinter, the divine gift of a bright, cleansing flame to drive away the dark.” (Pg. 135)
This book will interest some interested in the origins of Christmas and related subjects.
May 12, 2021
The Book of Christmas, volume 14 of The Enchanted World series, opens with a reconstruction of the Nativity story, the annunciation and birth of Jesus, compiled from the Gospels of Luke and Mark. Which I felt was rather brave as this book, and this series, is filled with folklore. Let’s not forget that this volume was put out during the height of the Satanic Panic, so any suggestion that any part of the story of Jesus was based on folklore sent hysterical screams across the airwaves. I can only assume that this slipped through the cracks because no one bothered to read it.
Coupling with the story of Jesus, we are shown many other nature rituals celebrated in Western cultures of December 25th. These came from the most primitive of times when people worshipped the sun as a god. When winter came and life seemed extinguished, they celebrated the Solstice, the winter day when the weakening sun regained its strength. Many Christmas traditions have their roots in pre-Christian traditions, but it was the birth of Jesus according to this volume that made a season of fear into a season of hope.
Pre-Christianity, the 25th of December was a time for monsters to roam about, old gods to capture mortals and bad children, and the Wild Hunt to roam the world looking for men to chase down and kill. All the rituals and signs and decorations were meant to ward off evil, Christianity changed that into the welcoming of love and peace into the world. The book is filled with fascinating looks into the old world origins of many traditions. Plus tales of The Nutcracker, and plenty of other Christmas favorites.
Coupling with the story of Jesus, we are shown many other nature rituals celebrated in Western cultures of December 25th. These came from the most primitive of times when people worshipped the sun as a god. When winter came and life seemed extinguished, they celebrated the Solstice, the winter day when the weakening sun regained its strength. Many Christmas traditions have their roots in pre-Christian traditions, but it was the birth of Jesus according to this volume that made a season of fear into a season of hope.
Pre-Christianity, the 25th of December was a time for monsters to roam about, old gods to capture mortals and bad children, and the Wild Hunt to roam the world looking for men to chase down and kill. All the rituals and signs and decorations were meant to ward off evil, Christianity changed that into the welcoming of love and peace into the world. The book is filled with fascinating looks into the old world origins of many traditions. Plus tales of The Nutcracker, and plenty of other Christmas favorites.
December 8, 2022
1.5/5
This, for me, is the weakest of the Enchanted World series. Whereas the other books are well-written and follow a series of diverse myths connected by a central theme, this one is disjointed, monotone, and focused entirely on the Christian stories around Christmas time (and, to a lesser extent, their pagan origins). This book would have been so much more rich if it explored winter mythology in general but instead it rehashes the same themes.
This, for me, is the weakest of the Enchanted World series. Whereas the other books are well-written and follow a series of diverse myths connected by a central theme, this one is disjointed, monotone, and focused entirely on the Christian stories around Christmas time (and, to a lesser extent, their pagan origins). This book would have been so much more rich if it explored winter mythology in general but instead it rehashes the same themes.
December 6, 2019
Another well done and beautifully illustrated book. This recounts the biblical descriptions of Christ's birth and then shows how ancient winter solstice or mid-winter celebrations were modified to become Christmas customs. It includes a magnificently illustrated retelling of The Nutcracker, but ends much more darkly than I'd ever seen.
September 18, 2019
First of a series. Review on last book.
April 17, 2009
My review for all of these books in this series is the same.
Time-Life has once again done an outstanding job putting together a series. From cover to cover they are thoughtful, beautiful books. I'm starting to sound generic, but it's true.
I'm a DK fan, I like white backgrounds and side notes with clear sections for every subject. This series has none of that. What they do have is an old book feel. Timeless artwork, thoroughness, and very well written makes these a must on my occult/paranormal bookshelf at home. I've been collecting the series slowly over several years and still have a few books to go. I refuse to go on amazon and buy them. It's all in the hunt for me. There is no subject they have left untouched. I highly recommend them.
Time-Life has once again done an outstanding job putting together a series. From cover to cover they are thoughtful, beautiful books. I'm starting to sound generic, but it's true.
I'm a DK fan, I like white backgrounds and side notes with clear sections for every subject. This series has none of that. What they do have is an old book feel. Timeless artwork, thoroughness, and very well written makes these a must on my occult/paranormal bookshelf at home. I've been collecting the series slowly over several years and still have a few books to go. I refuse to go on amazon and buy them. It's all in the hunt for me. There is no subject they have left untouched. I highly recommend them.
December 16, 2013
This is one of the classic books from the The enchanted World series from Time Life Books. I really enjoyed this book that brings to light the origins of Christmas traditions and legends including much of the winter holidays celebrated in the past. In addition to the large amount of information this book also contains amazing artwork to tantalize your eyes as the words fill your mind. Oh and there is a section for some Christmas songs in case you want to see what is out there. :)
My favorite part of the book is learning about all of the various legends that ultimately lead to what is the modern equivalent of Santa Claus(Odin being one of my favorite inspirations.)
My favorite part of the book is learning about all of the various legends that ultimately lead to what is the modern equivalent of Santa Claus(Odin being one of my favorite inspirations.)
January 2, 2015
I read this every Christmas. A delightful collection of prose and artwork detailing the myths surrounding the various winter festivals which went into the formation of Christmas. Details also the specific events from the New Testament, and all the embellishments which came later to the story. Covers the most probable origins of Christmas trees, and of Father Christmas (which was based on far more than just Saint Nicholas and Odin). Even has the words to some carols at the back.
Beautifully illustrated, wonderful writing and expertly researched. Quite possibly the best in the Enchanted World series.
Best highlight for me was probably the illustrated story of the Nutcracker.
Beautifully illustrated, wonderful writing and expertly researched. Quite possibly the best in the Enchanted World series.
Best highlight for me was probably the illustrated story of the Nutcracker.
January 5, 2026
It's probably long out of print, part of their series The Enchanted World (the only volume of said series that I still own). Lots of great tidbits about Christmas traditions all over the world, and lots of great artwork. The cover art inspired me to write "The Firflake," and one of the articles about Christmas Ghosts was the impetus for my still unfinished and thus untitled second Christmas book.
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August 7, 2011good
December 20, 2012
This beautifully illustrated book is a lovely blend of fact and fiction, of the folklore surrounding the festive time of Winter.
October 28, 2013
A series of short articles and stories.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews