Christmas Folklore and History

I give talks and respond to media questions about the history and folklore of Christmas. While my own research focuses specifically on Wassail and Twelfth Night traditions, I am happy to help you find the sources that will answer your Christmas questions. Below is a bibliography of resources you might find helpful.

Maria Kennedy ~ Christmas Blog Posts

The First Day of Christmas

Query This query grew out of a very fun interview I did with a Children’s News program called First Stop News. I had a lovely time talking with the team at First Stop News and am delighted to be part of their holiday program. Here…

The Christmas Spider: A Ukrainian and Polish Tradition

Query I’m working on a story about the origin of the Christmas spider. I was wondering if you might be able to answer a few questions to be quoted as an expert source in this story given your background in folklore. I have a few…

Christmas Mushrooms… A Visual Motif?

It’s that time of year, where I respond to media and friend requests for information on Christmas customs. Query: Would it be possible to provide even a few lines of commentary on these mushrooms, specifically (separately from anything Santa-related)? As in, how/why did decorating for…

The Many Faces of Santa

Every year, I get questions about Christmas Folklore from journalists, friends, and students. I’ve started compiling my little mini-research replies and share them here occasionally. I also welcome responses, corrections, and debates! Query: “[I’d like to know] about the perceived connection between the indigenous practices of the Sámi…

Wassail: A How-To For New Traditions

Occasionally people ask me a question like this, “I’d like to do a Wassail. How should I do it? How I can make it relevant to our place?” This year, a friend in the cider world in New York posed this question to me again,…

Pheasants and Pear Trees

The end of January is the close of pheasant season in England. The Beater’s Shoot marks the day at the end of the season when the paying guns are done, and the beaters take guns in hand. At this point in the season, one takes…

The Tenbury Wells Mistletoe Auction

During my research in England, I wrote some fieldnote observations (reposted below) about my encounters with mistletoe, and I recently got to revisit them in a conversation with Annie Corrigan on WFIU Radio’s Earth Eats Program.  If you are interested in further information on mistletoe,…

Wassail: An Unexpected Revival

I was sitting in a pub in East Hackney, London one January night a few years ago trying to convince a young man from Portsmouth that English people did in fact practice the custom of wassail.  “Wassail?” he said.  “I’ve never heard of that.  English…

Wassail: Some Historical Reports and their Contexts

Have you been dying for some historical sources for the custom of wassail?  Come on, I know you have.  Lucky for you I am the folklorist with the super folklore library collection a mere 30 minute walk from my doorstep.  So I made my way…

December on The Somerset Levels

It’s November, and we’ve had our first snow here in Indiana.  After the immersive and intensive dive into NY Cider Week, it’s been nice let my mind drift back to England as I spend time transcribing more interviews.  Somehow, I can’t seem to get the…

Maria Kennedy ~ Quoted in Media

Recommended Bibliography / Sources

This list is not exhaustive! It represents my personal research interests and resources I have found particularly compelling for general audiences, as well as some esoteric books in my personal collections. I update it as I find new sources of interest.

General Christmas + St. Nicolas

Media Articles

“How December 25 Became Christmas” https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/new-testament/how-december-25-became-christmas/#note03

“What does Santa have to do with … psychedelic mushrooms?” https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/santa-claus-magic-mushroom-legend

“Shock of the old: 10 demonic depictions of Europe’s disturbing Christmas customs” https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/dec/05/shock-of-the-old-10-demonic-depictions-of-europes-disturbing-christmas-customs?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

“From easily angered gnomes to child-eating giants, European folklore reveals a darker side to Christmas” https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/dec/22/from-easily-angered-gnomes-to-child-eating-giants-european-folklore-reveals-a-darker-side-to-christmas?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

“The Surprising History of Christmas Traditions.” https://www.rutgers.edu/news/surprising-history-christmas-traditions.

English Heritage. “The History of Father Christmas.” https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/christmas/the-history-of-father-christmas/.

Books and Journals

Bella, Leslie. The Christmas Imperative: Leisure, Family and Women’s Work. Halifax, N.S.: Fernwood Pub., 1992.

Christensen, Danille Elise. “Celebrating Midwinter: Holiday Foods in the United States.” SOURCETHINK (blog), December 23, 2021. https://sourcethink.net/2021/12/23/midwinter-foodways/.

Deacy, Christopher. Christmas as Religion: Rethinking Santa, the Secular and the Sacred. First edition. UPSO – Oxford University Press E-Books. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1289388.

Forbes, Bruce David. Christmas: A Candid History. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520933729.

Larsen, Timothy. The Oxford Handbook of Christmas. Oxford Handbooks Online. Oxford: University Press, 2020.

Marshall, Nancy H. The Night before Christmas : A Descriptive Bibliography of Clement Clarke Moore’s Immortal Poem. New Castle, Del: Oak Knoll Press. 2002.

Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. 1st Vintage books ed. New York: Vintage Books, 1997.

Plaut, Joshua Eli. A Kosher Christmas: ’tis the Season to Be Jewish. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2012. https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780813553818.

Miles, Clement A. Christmas Customs and Traditions, Their History and Significance. New York: Dover Publications, 1976. http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy1318/76009183-t.html.

Siefker, Phyllis. Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men: The Origins and Evolution of Saint Nicholas, Spanning 50,000 Years. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland, 1997.

Christmas Trees and Greenery

Media Articles

“It Took 10 Years to Grow This Christmas Tree. The Price? $105” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/18/nyregion/christmas-trees-cost-nj.htm

“History of Christmas Trees | National Christmas Tree Association,” https://realchristmastrees.org/education/history-of-christmas-trees/.

“Noticing Mushrooms All over Your Christmas Decor This Year? Here’s the Story behind the Surprising Holiday Trend.” https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/mushrooms-christmas-decor-behind-trend-213911893.html.

“Not Sure When to Take Down Your Christmas Tree? Use the History of This Ritual as a Guide” https://www.marthastewart.com/8178133/when-take-down-christmas-tree

“Jonathan’s Mistletoe Diary.” https://mistletoediary.com.

Books and Journals

Chapman, Arthur Glenn. Christmas Trees for Pleasure and Profit. 3rd ed. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, 1985.

Snyder, Phillip V. The Christmas Tree Book: The History of the Christmas Tree and Antique Christmas Tree Ornaments. Harmondsworth, Eng. ; Penguin Books, 1977.

African American Customs

Media Articles

Karen. “What Is Pinkster?” Historic Hudson Valley (blog), May 9, 2018. https://hudsonvalley.org/article/what-is-pinkster/.

Books and Journals

Dewulf, Jeroen. “Pinkster: An Atlantic Creole Festival in a Dutch-American Context.” The Journal of American Folklore 126, no. 501 (2013): 245–71. https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerfolk.126.501.0245.

Customs from the British Isles

Media Articles

English Heritage. “The History of Father Christmas.” https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/christmas/the-history-of-father-christmas/.

BBC. “BBC Radio 4 – The Untold, Darkie Day: Michael and the Mummers.” https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06yr6vh.

Books and Journals

Chandler, John. A Wessex Nativity: Celebrating Midwinter in Somerset, Dorset & Wiltshire, 2010.

Glassie, Henry. All Silver and No Brass : An Irish Christmas Mumming. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975.

Halpert, Herbert, and George Morley Storey. Christmas Mumming in Newfoundland; Essays in Anthropology, Folklore, and History. Memorial University Series. Toronto: Published for Memorial University of Newfoundland by University of Toronto Press, 1969.

Hutton, Ronald. Stations Of The Sun. New Ed edition. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Wigley, Edward. “Wassail! Reinventing ‘Tradition’ in Contemporary Wassailing Customs in Southern England.” Cultural Geographies 26, no. 3 (July 1, 2019): 379–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474019832350.

Customs from Italy

Sciorra, Joseph. “‘Festive Intensification and Place Consciousness in Christmas House Displays.’” In Built with Faith: Italian American Imagination and Catholic Material Culture in New York City, First edition. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2015.

Sciorra, Joseph. “‘Imagined Places and Fragile Landscapes: Nostalgia and Utopia in Nativity Presepi.’” In Built with Faith: Italian American Imagination and Catholic Material Culture in New York City, First edition. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2015.

Siporin, Steve. The Befana Is Returning The Story of a Tuscan Festival. Book Collections on Project MUSE. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2022. https://muse.jhu.edu/book/100456/.

Customs from the Netherlands

Roelofs, Pieter, Hendrick Avercamp, and Beverly Jackson. Winter Landscape with Skaters: Hendrick Avercamp. Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 2013.

Nordic and Scandinavian Customs

“Heavenly Harmony: The Universal Language of Finnish Himmeli” https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/eija-koski-finnish-himmeli?fbclid=IwY2xjawG5Xh9leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHQt0h-3ktAeIFdUWjgRHvgiJWe0rj-8On9bXe5tmxy-RKI-k68_Vm8UZmg_aem_z1V8ymoRUCFUhHEn7MqD5g

Stokker, Kathleen. Keeping Christmas: Yuletide Traditions in Norway and the New Land. St. Paul, Minn.: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2000.

Customs from Ukraine

Tkacz, Virlana, and Wanda Phipps. Still the River Flows: Winter Solstice and Christmas Rituals in a Carpathian Village. New York: Yara Arts Group, n.d.

“Still the River Flows.” https://www.yaraartsgroup.net/still-the-river-flows