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Apr 28, 2024
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SOHI 423 - The History of Christmas
Semester Hours: Three
This online course explores the history of Christmas from the birth of Jesus Christ to the present, with special attention to the development of Christmas in America from colonial times to today. The course opens with a survey of Christmas historically from the Bible’s account of the coming of Christ into human history through early-Christian, medieval, and Reformation-era perspectives on Christmas. The remainder of the course traces the development of Christmas in America, from colonial times to present day. Topics include early Puritan opposition to Christmas; indifference toward the holiday in much of the colonial Chesapeake; the association of Christmas celebration with pranks in the early-national United States; the rise of a consumer-centered Christmas from the nineteenth century; the harrowing, and often ironic, experience of Christmas in times of war and tragedy, from Washington’s crossing of the Delaware in 1776 to the 1972 ”Christmas Bombing” campaign in Vietnam; the music, television, and filmography of Christmas in America from the late nineteenth century; and angry cultural and perennial political battles over the “secularization” of Christmas.
Term Offered: On Demand
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