Review by Choice Review
Aveni (astronomy and anthropology, Colgate Univ.) considers several modern holidays, discussing where they come from and why they are celebrated when they are. He finds the answer "in the quest to satisfy our deepest inner needs." Some of the earliest rituals and ceremonies originated from watching the seasonal cycles and were established by men to get the outcomes they felt they deserved. When our forebears became sedentary, hunting rituals were transformed into holy rites enacted on specific dates. Early agrarian civilizations keyed several of their ritual celebrations to the birthdays of the gods; Christians eventually changed these to birthdays of saints. Throughout history, holidays have been invented and reinvented to meet specific needs of humans. The 1966 establishment of Kwanzaa, a reaction against consumerism and a desire to give African Americans a festival of their own, demonstrates that the creation of holidays continues to the present. Aveni provides no groundbreaking revelations, but he expertly sums up what is known about the origins and history of some of the Western world's best-known holidays. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Appropriate for all general and academic collections. W. K. McNeil Ozark Folk Center
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Why do we celebrate Easter by telling children that a rabbit will bring them eggs and candy? Why do we make New Year's resolutions? Why do we engage in rituals like bobbing for apples on Halloween, watching football on Thanksgiving, and giving chocolate on Valentine's Day? Aveni, a professor of astronomy and anthropology at Colgate, provides answers to these and many other questions in this delightful little book about the origins and modern development of our holidays. Our red-letter days, he contends, have evolved over the centuries as various cultures use them to reflect specific cultural concerns. For example, Halloween can be traced back to the Celtic festival Samhain, the official first day of winter in early medieval Ireland. On that day, spirits roamed the earth, revisiting their homes, pleading with their relatives for prayers, and eating a warm meal before they returned to their graves. While the modern celebration of Halloween resembles Samhain, Aveni argues that the holiday provides adults with an opportunity to cope with the fear of the unknown by allowing children to dress as ghosts, goblins and spirits. Overall, Aveni contends, we try to gain some control over nature and our lives by capturing the rhythms of the seasons on our calendars and by dividing our lives into segments governed by special days. Although not a thorough and definitive study of seasonal holidays, Aveni's book provides entertaining glimpses into the cultural evolution of holidays, and explores our human desire to make time work in our favor. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A muddled chronology of annual holidays that connects, among other things, Groundhog Day to an Irish saint and May Day to 19th-century labor legislation in the state of Illinois. Aveni (Astronomy and Anthropology/Colgate Univ.; Behind the Crystal Ball, 1996, etc.) follows the usual routes back through Babylonia, ancient Egypt, and Rome to pinpoint the origins of modern celebrations and trace their distortion over time by the vagaries of social change. Organized by month, this begins with a chapter considering the question of why January launches the new year. "February" explores the origins of both Groundhog Day and Valentine's Day, "April" covers Easter/Passover, "June" portrays a time of mating, "October" unleashes the spirits of the underworld (Halloween), and "November" (The Day of the Dead) contemplates mortality. Not surprisingly--Aveni is an astronomer, after all--most of the holidays are tied historically to a solstice or an equinox, or to long-forgotten agricultural calendars. (The first of February, for example, began the new year in old Celtic reckonings.) The author uses myths and legends from China, Arctic peoples, and the Maya, among others, to compare how various civilizations recognized or organized the course of the sun's annual journey. A dramatic description of Serpent Day, celebrated at the spring equinox at the great pyramid of Chichen Itza, shows the sun's course bringing to light an image of a great serpent along one of the pyramid's edges. Unfortunately, such rewarding moments are rare; Aveni too often mixes his solid nuggets of information with pompous attempts at humor and commentary on such over-obvious aspects of contemporary culture as the (oh, no!) commercialization of Christmas. Relating familiar material in self-conscious prose, this falls between the cracks of scholarly work and engaging popular history. (20 b&w illustrations, not seen)
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