The Origins of Christmas Songs and Traditions

Nonfiction

By Rhetta Akamatsu

Publisher : Lulu.com

ABOUT Rhetta Akamatsu

Rhetta Akamatsu
I am an author, freelance writer and website builder. I write about my two loves, the paranormal and the blues. The common ground between my loves is history. I love history. My latest book is The Irish Slaves, a  non-fiction account of a little-known part of Irish history. The one before More...

Description

This charmingly illustrated book explores the origins and history of Christmas songs and traditions. It includes sheet music, lyrics, recipes, and poems as well as the tales of the origins of such popular songs as The Wassail Song, Good King Winceslaus, The Holly and The Ivy, and more. It also covers the origins of the Christmas tree, Wassail, gingerbread, and other Christmas traditions, tracing many back to their pagan roots.

I am fascinated by history, especially social history. I wanted to know the history of some of the Christmas songs and traditions that obviously predate the Christian holiday, so I began to write this little book. I added recipes for Wassail, gingerbread, plum pudding, etc., and sheet music for the songs, and thought it would make a great little Christmas gift book.