Literature Review
Josh Beal English 106 Professor Laverick September 14, 2010
Christmas
Christmas is an important holiday for everyone in America. It emphasizes a time of fellowship and giving between loved ones and family. Unfortunately, Christmas in America has changed throughout the years. The social traditions of Christmas in America have changed from a traditional celebration of American families and the celebration of Christ’s birth to a prideful, competitive marketing strategy to increase economic growth for manufacturers. Christmas is about giving, not getting, and it is important to remember that.
Through this literature review, I will discuss the history of Christmas in America and focus on its origin, traditions, and marketing aspects and how it has progressed throughout the years. I have selected five articles from various areas using the library database. Each article emphasizes a different aspect of Christmas. Some focus on the origin of Christmas and its history and others emphasize the origins of its traditions and how Christmas has become a battlefield for American marketing. Each article is beneficial in the efforts to see how the focus of Christmas has changed in America. The first article I reviewed was “By Jove! It’s Christmas.” This article was written in 2009 by Matt Salusbury and emphasizes the origin of Christmas. In this article, Salusbury describes how Christmas actually began in Rome as the celebration of the winter solstice known as Saturnalia. He does not make clear though when the convergence of Saturnalia and Christmas took place. I chose this article because it gives a detailed account on the origin of Christmas and its close ties with Saturnalia. This is important to readers because they need to understand how Christmas originated in order to fully comprehend the whole concept of Christmas.
The main importance of the first article I chose is its emphasis of how Christmas originated. This is unique compared to the other four
Christmas
Christmas is an important holiday for everyone in America. It emphasizes a time of fellowship and giving between loved ones and family. Unfortunately, Christmas in America has changed throughout the years. The social traditions of Christmas in America have changed from a traditional celebration of American families and the celebration of Christ’s birth to a prideful, competitive marketing strategy to increase economic growth for manufacturers. Christmas is about giving, not getting, and it is important to remember that.
Through this literature review, I will discuss the history of Christmas in America and focus on its origin, traditions, and marketing aspects and how it has progressed throughout the years. I have selected five articles from various areas using the library database. Each article emphasizes a different aspect of Christmas. Some focus on the origin of Christmas and its history and others emphasize the origins of its traditions and how Christmas has become a battlefield for American marketing. Each article is beneficial in the efforts to see how the focus of Christmas has changed in America. The first article I reviewed was “By Jove! It’s Christmas.” This article was written in 2009 by Matt Salusbury and emphasizes the origin of Christmas. In this article, Salusbury describes how Christmas actually began in Rome as the celebration of the winter solstice known as Saturnalia. He does not make clear though when the convergence of Saturnalia and Christmas took place. I chose this article because it gives a detailed account on the origin of Christmas and its close ties with Saturnalia. This is important to readers because they need to understand how Christmas originated in order to fully comprehend the whole concept of Christmas.
The main importance of the first article I chose is its emphasis of how Christmas originated. This is unique compared to the other four