To all my pagan bretheren on this board-

[Pleater]

A single image of 'The Royal Family at Christmas' showing them with a decorated Christmas tree is credited with making the Christmas tree THE thing to have.

Published in the Illustrated London News in 1846 the image changed Christmas - a bit like the way many young women went blond and copied Lady Di's hairstyle, makeup and clothes as soon as her photo's were in every newspaper here.

Queen Victoria and her Consort and family were almost a cult - my grandmother could remember being alarmed by all the changes made for mourning the Old Queen - every shop window was dressed in purple crepe and black ribbons with a portrait of the queen on a cushion, the churches were darkened, the light woodwork and walls were varnished and painted, even the music halls and pubs were made somber.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Bugbear]

You know, I wasn't allowed to believe in the Santa Clause when I was a little kid... we also used a fake Christmas tree with cheesy plastic ornaments and decorations...
But a good deal of my ancestors were Germans and Pennsylvania Dutch!

I've been fooled by bunk books too many times, MacBean... It's difficult to weed through them all, and I'm not talking about old folklore and history books either...

[Bugbear]

Ya... I've been digging into the reviews and criticisms of the suggested Will Durant book.

[Bugbear]

All right, question to the historians, the library has, The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum.

Any opinions on this book?

From the reviews etc, it sounds like there is some discussion of things brought up in this thread and relating to Celtic traditions.

[Bugbear]

Oh my... Stephen Nissenbaum goes into the "nitty-gritty" of Christmas history...

I've read a couple of chapters. He was explaining why the Puritans banned Christmas...