The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays

Передняя обложка
Oxford University Press, 16 дек. 2002 г. - Всего страниц: 224
What is the connection between May Day and the Statue of Liberty? Between ancient solstice fires and Fourth of July fireworks? Between St. Valentine, the Groundhog, and the Virgin Mary? In The Book of the Year, Anthony Aveni offers fascinating answers to these questions and explains the many ways humans throughout time have tried to order and give meaning to time's passing. Aveni traces the origins of modern customs tied to seasonal holidays, exploring what we eat, the games we play, the rituals we perform, and the colorful cast of characters we invent to dramatize holidays. Along the way, Aveni illuminates everything from the Jack 'O Lantern and our faith in the predictive power of animals to the ways in which Labor Day reflects the great medieval "time wars," when the newly invented clock first pitted labor against management. Vividly written, filled with facts both curious and astonishing, this engrossing book allows us to hear that beat more clearly and to understand more fully the rhythms we all dance to throughout the year.
 

Содержание

1 Creating Organizing and Transforming the Holidays
1
2 Happy New Year But Why Now?
11
Prediction Purification and Passionate Pursuit
29
Watching the Serpent Descend
47
Connecting Times Broken Circle
63
A Collision of Forces
79
Feasts of Fire Water and Feminine Affairs of the Heart
91
Remembering the Great Time Wars
107
Dead Time
119
Transcending Pilgrims Progress
135
From Resurrection to Rudolph
149
12 What Goes Around
165
Notes
171
References
177
Index
183
Авторские права

Другие издания - Просмотреть все

Часто встречающиеся слова и выражения

Об авторе (2002)

Anthony Aveni is the Russell B. Colgate Professor of Astronomy and Anthropology at Colgate University and the author of several books, including Empires of Time and Conversing with the Planets.

Библиографические данные