A Christmas Cornucopia

• Date de parution : 03/11/2016
• Editeur : Penguin Books Ltd Digital
• EAN : 9780241977552
• Série : (-)
• Support : Livre numérique

• Nombre de pages : (-)
• Collection : (-)
• Genre : (-)
• Thème : Non attribué
• Prix littéraire(s) : (-)

The unpredictable origins and etymologies of our cracking Christmas customsFor something that happens every year of our lives, we really don't know much about Christmas.We don't know that the date we celebrate was chosen by a madman, or that Christmas, etymologically speaking, means "Go away,... Voir plus

The unpredictable origins and etymologies of our cracking Christmas customsFor something that happens every year of our lives, we really don't know much about Christmas.We don't know that the date we celebrate was chosen by a madman, or that Christmas, etymologically speaking, means "Go away, Christ". Nor do we know that Christmas was first celebrated in 243 AD on March 28th - and only moved to 25th December in 354 AD. We're oblivious to the fact that the advent calendar was actually invented by a Munich housewife to stop her children pestering her for a Christmas countdown. And we would never have guessed that the invention of crackers was merely a way of popularising sweet wrappers.Luckily, like a gift from Santa himself, Mark Forsyth is here to unwrap this fundamentally funny gallimaufry of traditions and oddities, making it all finally make sense - in his wonderfully entertaining wordy way.