The Book of Christmas
Will be published approx. on 4. October 2012
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-0-09-194729-3 (ISBN)
Description
- What is the significance of holly at Christmas?
- When should you make your figgy pudding?
- Why was the Old Lad's Passing Bell rung on Christmas Eve?
- And who was Good King Wenceslas?
Did you know that, long before turkey arrived on our shores, it was traditional to serve a roasted wild boar's head at Christmas? Or that our Christmases were once so cold that Frost Fairs were held on the River Thames?
Christmas Day was first celebrated on 25 December in the fourth century CE. But when should our Christmas decorations come down - Twelfth Day, Twelfth Night ... or Candlemas? And why?
Packed with fascinating facts about ancient religious customs and traditional feasts, instructions for Victorian parlour games and the stories behind our favourite carols, The Book of Christmas is a captivating volume about our Christmas past.
- When should you make your figgy pudding?
- Why was the Old Lad's Passing Bell rung on Christmas Eve?
- And who was Good King Wenceslas?
Did you know that, long before turkey arrived on our shores, it was traditional to serve a roasted wild boar's head at Christmas? Or that our Christmases were once so cold that Frost Fairs were held on the River Thames?
Christmas Day was first celebrated on 25 December in the fourth century CE. But when should our Christmas decorations come down - Twelfth Day, Twelfth Night ... or Candlemas? And why?
Packed with fascinating facts about ancient religious customs and traditional feasts, instructions for Victorian parlour games and the stories behind our favourite carols, The Book of Christmas is a captivating volume about our Christmas past.
Reviews / Votes
The perfect gift for festive season fans * Telegraph * Brimming with baubles of Christmas fact and bedecked with snippets of festive tradition * The Field *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Ebury Publishing
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Laminated cover
Illustrations
Integrated b/w line drawings
Dimensions
Height: 205 mm
Width: 142 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
374 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-194729-3 (9780091947293)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Jane Struthers
The Book of Christmas
E-Book
10/2012
1st Edition
Ebury Digital
€14.99
Available for download
Person
Jane Struthers is the author of over twenty books, including Red Sky at Night: The Book of Lost Countryside Wisdom, Beside the Seaside and Literary Britain and Ireland. She shares her 17th-century cotttage and garden in East Sussex with her husband and two cats.