IHas A Christmas Carol been a part of your holiday tradition? Are you bummed that live theatre has been canceled? Or maybe you have always wanted to see it! I LOVE this story. I read it every year and watch at least one adaptation of it. If you haven't seen it or read it yet, now is the time! COVID has been a bummer in a lot of ways, but it has given us all more time to read since our going out options are so few. So as we head into the Christmas season, I want to share one really surprising fact about how the holiday has traditionally been celebrated!
Christmas used to be more of Halloween! True story! In the 1800s and early 1900s, Christmas was a time for ghost stories. If you think about it, it makes total sense. Christmas is at the darkest time of year. The Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year and is only 4 days before Christmas. Before electricity was common in houses, corners were dark, shadows were many, and the temperature meant families had to huddle by the fire to stay warm. In the long, long hours of dark, telling ghost stories arose as a tradition. Though it's not super terrifying to us now in our well-lit houses, imagine hearing A Christmas Carol for the first time with 3 scary ghosts in a huge, dark, cold house! Plus they didn't have horror movies or scary shows. So this story was amazing frightening when it first came out! Haven't seen or read A Christmas Carol? Don't worry! We have several versions of it in the library. I'm also including all of out other Christmas related books in the collection below. All are written for kids your age, so in a few years you can read the original. Or you can listen to it with the link below if you're ready to try the original language!
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AuthorHi! I am Areadingwoman (otherwise known as Melissa Arenson). I just love books! I have a bachelor's degree in 9-12 English education, a master's degree in literature, and a specialist's degree in library science. Archives
January 2023
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