Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan, by Clement A. Miles This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan Author: Clement A. Miles Release Date: August 21, 2006 [EBook #19098] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTMAS IN RITUAL AND *** Produced by David Starner, Robert Ledger and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Christmas In Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan by Clement A. Miles Published by T. Fisher Unwin 1912 THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI (DETAIL). GENTILE DA FABRIANO (Florence: Accademia) 5 PREFACE In this volume I have tried to show how Christmas is or has been kept in various lands and ages, and to trace as far as possible the origin of the pagan elements that have mingled with the Church's feast of the Nativity. In Part I. I have dealt with the festival on its distinctively Christian side. The book has, however, been so planned that readers not interested in this aspect of Christmas may pass over Chapters II.-V., and proceed at once from the Introduction to Part II., which treats of pagan survivals.