Christmas in Pennsylvania: 50th Anniversary Edition by Alfred L. Shoemaker with an introduction by Don Yoder provides a look into the the history of holiday folk traditions, free courtesy of publisher Stackpole.
Currently free @
Amazon (not available to Canadians).
Description
- The return of a bestselling classic with new material
- Full-color vintage images for the first time
- A new selection of recipes from Pennsylvania's Christmas past
Originally published in 1959 and written by one of the seminal figures in American folklife studies, this classic work examines the folk origins of Christmas in the Keystone State.
Composed of interviews and contemporary newspaper reports, it records holiday traditions from the eighteenth century through the early twentieth century, including mummers, Christ-Kindel and Kriss Kringle, Christmas trees and trimming, Belsnickels, the Philadelphia carnival of horns, Moravian pyramids and putzes, Pittsburgh firecracker celebrations, and holiday treats.
Now with full-color images, this edition includes Don Yoder's new expanded afterword on recent research of Christmas customs and a selection of traditional recipes.