01-06-2007, 09:29 PM
Two good books:
"Inventing Christmas: How Our Holiday Came to Be" by Jock Elliott
http://www.amazon.com/Inventing-Christmas-...2979015-5632949
Quotes:
<b>
"Most of our Christmas customs," he explains, "were
invented in an amazingly short twenty-five-year
period, from 1823-1848-a sort of `Big Bang' of our
Christmas."
</b>
Another from the "Battle for Christmas" by Stephen
Nissenbaum :-
http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Christmas-Ste...m/dp/0679740384
<b>
"Christmas was set at December 25 in the fourth
century, not for any biblical link with Christ's
birth, but because the church hoped to annex and
Christianize the existing midwinter pagan feast."
</b>