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Celebrate Christmas
Over the past few centuries, Christmas has evolved into one of the most popular and well-known holidays, but few people are familiar with its past. Long before Christmas focused on Santa Claus, the giving and receiving of gifts, and even the celebration of Jesus' birth, it was a pagan holiday that observed the changing of the seasons. Readers learn how Christmas was born and how it grew into the holiday we know today.
* Reviews *
Mattern provides a little more meat than is found in the average overview. She devotes several pages to the origins of Christmas, first as a pagan holiday, then as a celebration of Jesuss birth, and its evolution into the holiday as it is observed today. Symbols of Christmas, important people, and traditions from around the world are explored, and there is a fair amount of discussion about the commercialization of the holiday. A list of volunteer suggestions to help others, Spread the Spirit, is appended. Full-color photos and reproductions appear throughout. There is plenty here for reports., School Library Journal October 2007
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Grades
5-6 IL
Grades
5-12+ GRL
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