- Hardcover: 112 pages
- Publisher: Ulysses Press (Sep 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1569750874
- ISBN-13: 978-1569750872
- Product Dimensions: 18.5 x 13.2 x 1.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,468,296 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
What if our entire civilization could write its own memoirs and tell the complete story of Christmas past? Surprisingly, the tale would begin not in Bethlehem, but two thousand years earlier in the cradle of civilization. It would be a nostalgic story involving Christians and non-Christians alike. Babylonians Greeks, and Romans - whose ancient customs became part of the Christmas celebration - would people its pages. We would see early Europeans hanging fir sprigs and winter greenery to renew life and protect against the cold blasts of Arctic wind. People who had not yet learned of the Christ child would be burning Yule logs. Of course, the most important chapter in these memoirs would take place in a manger surrounded by Wise Men and marked with a brilliant star. But the tale would continue on for another two thousand years as generation after generation added to the customs of Christmas.
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First Sentence
EASTWARD OF THE ATLANTIC Ocean there is a sea whose waters are very blue under high white clouds. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
EASTWARD OF THE ATLANTIC Ocean there is a sea whose waters are very blue under high white clouds. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have an interest in traditional Christian rituals that can be traced back to pagan origins. So I bought this book as a gift for friends. Unfortunately, I was greatly disappointed in one ancient belief that the authors had left out. That is the old belief of the great Goddess and of her son/lover. At the end of each year the son died and was reborn. This theme has been shown in many old religions. How could this missed? Goddess, Mary, son, Jesus, sun? Get it? SEBrooks
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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6 reviews
50 of 52 people found the following review helpful
An explaination of solstice and christmas celebration
25 Dec 1999
Format:Hardcover
I bought 4000 Years of Christmas because I'm very interested in the history of Christmas and winter solstice celebration and wanted some background on where it all began. Carl and Alice Count's book, 4000 Years of Christmas, answered much for me. It linked the pre-Christian Mesopotamian 12 days of merry-making and their need to have a rebirth of their king each year to fight the old gods who were reclaiming the earth in order to renew the land. The Counts then explained how these celebrations were adopted by the Greeks and Romans, and how separately these early Mesopotamian celebrations moved north via trade routes up the Danube River to an emerging Northern culture. The Counts further reveal that Christ's birth day was not celebrated for nearly 400 years, and that the Roman Saturnalia celebration -- a celebration developed out the Mesopotamian one, was held at the winter solstice to honor the renewing of light and the end of the long nights -- and that 4th Century Christians chose the finale day of Saturnalia (December 25) as the day of Christ's birth in hope of garnering peasant support. The interesting tie they make is that of the change in the perception of Gods -- from ones that are abitrary and sometimes vindictive to one like Jesus Christ who offers love, grace, kindness to all -- including children. After exploring the Christian development, the Counts explore the development of the Germanic god Woden and the Scandinavian god Odin, explaining how they evolved into Santa Claus and mixed with the Christian celebations, and how the history of St. Nickalus was developed. In short, this is good reading and it offers a nice, short synopsis of the development of our familar winter Christmas celebrations and how Christian and early pagan celebrations evolved.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
An Excellent Christmas Gift
2 Oct 2002
Format:Hardcover
This is a delightful, well-rounded explanation of the development of the holiday we know as Christmas. Readers interested in learning about the origins of our celebration will likely be well pleased with what these authors have to offer. Those who seek reinforcement of their own viewpoints or advocacy of particular religious interpretations of the season might look elsewhere.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
The hopes and fears of all the years
1 Dec 2004
Format:Hardcover
A quick, fascinating read into the anthropology of religion as seen through the lens of a single holiday. As Joseph Campbell would illustrate in much greater detail in his landmark work,"The Hero with a Thousand Faces," Dr. Count demonstrates the underlying unity in all the divergent historical religious sources of Christmas traditions. Humankind has shared common hopes, fears, and the need for redemption throughout history, which share resolution in remarkably parallel religious practices around the date set for Christmas. Rather than see this as a challenge to Christian primacy, Count sees the parallel hopes and fears behind these divergent practices finding their most complete resolution in the context of the Christian celebration. It is as Phillips Brooks wrote, "The hopes and fears of all the years are met [in Bethlehem]," in the birth of the Christ Child.
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