The Christmas Encyclopedia - Hardcover

Crump, William D.

4.18

11 ratings by Goodreads

9780786422937: The Christmas Encyclopedia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786422939 ISBN 13: 9780786422937

Publisher: McFarland Publishing, 2005

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Did you know that Iraqi Christians celebrate Christmas Eve with a bonfire of thorns? That farmers in the Netherlands practice Midwinter Horn Blowing throughout the Advent season? That people in Caracas, Venezuela, roller-skate to midnight mass on Christmas Eve? Find these fascinating facts and hundreds more in this new edition of William Crump’s acclaimed Christmas Encyclopedia. From Charles Dickens to Robert Frost, from “Mele Kalikimaka” to Messiah, and from Charlie Brown to the Waltons, all our favorite Christmas traditions—modern and vintage—are covered here. Crump’s second edition of this comprehensive reference work adds 120 new entries, bringing the total number of Christmas–related topics to more than 480. Subjects include individual carols and songs, Christmas episodes of television series, literary figures, and popular Christmas symbols, as well as the origins of some of our most celebrated Christmas traditions. Unique to this work is its emphasis on Christmas as depicted in the popular media, with entries covering literary works, motion pictures and television specials expressing holiday themes.

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About the Author:

William D. Crump is a retired physician. He lives in Madison, Tennessee.

From Booklist:

This Christmas compendium, updated and expanded to 480 entries (120 more than in the first edition), offers more coverage of the Yule holiday as it is observed worldwide. Cross-referencing directs the researcher to specifics; for example, Second Christmas Day see Boxing Day. A valuable element of Crump's work is his coverage of holiday presentations in the popular media, including Little House on the Prairie, The Smurfs, The Waltons, various film spin-offs of A Christmas Carol, the operetta Babes in Toyland, and televised images of the lighting of the White House Christmas tree. Balancing the secular with the classical and sacred are entries on Handel's Messiah and Henry Van Dyke's The Other Wise Man. Illustrations capture the holiday spirit in advertising, woodcuts, and cartoons and include photos of Charles Dickens, Peter I. Tchaikovsky, a Chrismons tree, and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Palestine. The overview of the biblical accounts of the Nativity is a valuable addition.

Still missing from the text is the prophecy of Isaiah from the Old Testament, a source of Christmas carols and sayings. Indexing could be more thorough; for example, there are no index entries for the Grinch, Luke, or Matthew. Also, commentary on current Christmas cards overlooks the use of metallic inks, cutout and pop-up elements, and microchips that speak and sing messages.

Although libraries holding the previous, 2001 edition may not consider this an essential purchase, the encyclopedia should find a place in public, church, and school libraries as well as in the hands of collectors. With its emphasis on Christmas as depicted in the popular media, it complements titles such as Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Year's Celebrations (Omnigraphics, 2003). Mary Ellen Snodgrass
Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved

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