For poets, priests, and politicians--and especially ordinary Germans--in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the image of the loving nuclear family gathered around the Christmas tree symbolized the unity of the nation at large. German Christmas was supposedly organic, a product of the winter solstice rituals of pagan "Teutonic" tribes, the celebration of the birth of Jesus, and the age-old customs that defined German character. Yet, as Joe Perry argues, Germans also used these annual celebrations to contest the deepest values that held the German community together: faith, family, and love, certainly, but also civic responsibility, material prosperity, and national belonging. This richly illustrated volume explores the invention, evolution, and politicization of Germany's favorite national holiday. According to Perry, Christmas played a crucial role in public politics, as revealed in the militarization of "War Christmas" during World War I and World War II, the Nazification of Christmas by the Third Reich, and the political manipulation of Christmas during the Cold War. Perry offers a close analysis of the impact of consumer culture on popular celebration and the conflicts created as religious, commercial, and political authorities sought to control the holiday's meaning. By unpacking the intimate links between domestic celebration, popular piety, consumer desires, and political ideology, Perry concludes that family festivity was central in the making and remaking of public national identities.
Describes the celebration of Christmas in Spain and includes carols, recipes and instructions for making ornaments.
It's such wonderful time of year and the magic atmosphere of December and the holiday season gets to everyone. This book will take you on a journey through many German Christmas traditions filled with happy childhood memories.
Christmas in Germany
Ethiopian fringed umbrellas; star-shaped Filipino parol lanterns;candlelit Swedish St. Lucia crowns-Mary Lankford bringstogether Christmas traditions from twelve different lands,like decorations on a splendid tree.
Each volume contains crafts, recipes, music and a glossary.
Do you want to focus more on Christmas and less on tedious schoolwork?
A continuation of the very popular Very Christmas series conveying a festive spirit from the place where many Christmas traditions were invented.
Traces the cultural roots of the German celebration of Christmas, and explores their various holiday traditions, including music, gift-giving, special foods, and religious observances
This Old World tale about the warmth and wonder of Christmas will leave children enchanted with the magical possibilities of the season.
The weeks of Advent hold all the sweet, almost unbearable anticipation of Christmas for days on end and this gorgeous book embraces that fairy-tale feeling within its pages.