Difficulty: Introductory | Prerequisites: None, though familiarity with English Composition I concepts (rhetorical analysis, close reading) is helpful.
This topic sits at the intersection of literary studies and cultural history, and it is part of the English Composition II curriculum at Purdue. The material explores how Christmas evolved from a rowdy medieval festival into the domestic, commercial holiday we recognise today, through the lens of six recommended books reviewed by The Economist. You do not need any prior knowledge of the individual texts, but a basic grasp of close reading and rhetorical analysis will help you engage with the review techniques on display. The article doubles as a model of evaluative writing: it shows how to recommend books by weaving summary, historical context and critical judgement into a single, compact piece.
The Economist recommends six books that treat Christmas not as sentimental fluff but as a subject worthy of serious cultural inquiry. Three of those books focus on the holiday's social and political history: how it was suppressed by Puritans, reinvented by capitalism in the 1820s, shaped by Dickens's A Christmas Carol, and commercially packaged from the Roman era to Coca-Cola. Together they show that the "traditions" most people take for granted are surprisingly recent and driven far more by commerce than by religion.
Bacchanalia
A wild, drunken celebration, originally associated with the Roman god Bacchus. In the context of Christmas history, it describes the rowdy, tavern-centred festivities of early modern Europe, before the holiday was domesticated.
In simple terms, this means the original Christmas was closer to a pub crawl than a church service.
Wassailing
The practice of going door to door singing and drinking, common in medieval and early modern English Christmas celebrations. Wassailers expected food and drink from wealthier households, making the custom as much about social obligation as festivity.
Think of it as trick-or-treating for adults, but with ale instead of sweets.
Domesticity (in the context of Christmas)
The shift of Christmas from a public, communal, often raucous celebration into a private, family-centred holiday focused on the home, gift-giving and children. This transformation took hold in the 1820s and was driven largely by commercial interests.
In simple terms, this is the moment Christmas moved from the tavern to the living room.
Stocking-filler (literary metaphor)
Used by The Economist to describe books about Christmas that are lightweight, forgettable and insubstantial, the literary equivalent of a small, cheap gift stuffed into a stocking. The article distinguishes the six recommended books from this category.
Think of it as the difference between a book you keep on your shelf and one you leave behind at the airport.
Social history
A branch of historical writing that focuses on the everyday experiences, customs and social structures of ordinary people, rather than on wars, monarchs or political events. Nissenbaum's and Flanders's books are both examples of social history applied to a single cultural institution.
In simple terms, it is history told from the ground up rather than the top down.
Evaluative review
A genre of non-fiction writing (and a key skill in English Composition) in which the writer assesses a text's quality, significance and limitations rather than simply summarising its content. The Economist article is itself a model of this form: it blends summary with judgement in every paragraph.
Think of it as the difference between telling someone what a film is about and telling them whether it is worth watching.
Central argument: Christmas has always been a battleground between competing social forces, not a stable tradition handed down unchanged.
Pre-modern Christmas was wild, not wholesome
In early modern Europe, Christmas resembled a carnival: drinking in taverns, rowdy wassailing, communal excess.
It was closer to bacchanalia than to a family gathering around a tree.
Puritan suppression
Puritans in England and Massachusetts actively outlawed Christmas celebrations.
Their reasoning: the Bible gives no date for Jesus's birth, so December 25th is an invention. Christmas was, in their view, a "pagan festival covered with a Christian veneer."
The 1820s reinvention
Christmas morphed into a domestic, family-centred holiday in the 1820s.
This transformation was driven not by religious revival but by capitalism and the emerging consumer economy.
The shift moved Christmas from public spaces (taverns, streets) into private ones (the home, the parlour).
Tone and style of the book
Shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize in 1997.
The Economist describes it as "replete with historical detail, funny and irreverent: the literary equivalent of a knowing wink."
It is social history written for a general audience, not an academic monograph.
Central argument: Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (1843) did not merely reflect existing Christmas traditions; it actively created many of them.
Publication context
A Christmas Carol was published on 19 December 1843.
Its initial print run of 6,000 copies sold out by Christmas Eve.
The 66-page novella was written during a particularly difficult period in Dickens's personal life.
Cultural impact of A Christmas Carol
The turkey as a centrepiece of Christmas dinner: popularised by the book.
The greeting "merry Christmas": brought into widespread use by Dickens's text.
The novella is now embedded in contemporary Christmas culture to such a degree that many people do not realise how recent its influence is.
The book's approach
Standiford tells the story of both the writer and the work: Dickens's financial pressures, creative process and the book's immediate and lasting reception.
Adapted into a 2017 film starring Dan Stevens.
Why this matters for English Composition
It is a case study in how a single text can reshape a culture's rituals.
It demonstrates the power of narrative to define social norms, a theme that recurs across composition and rhetoric courses.
Central argument: The commercialism people complain about at Christmas is not a modern corruption; it has been there from the very beginning.
The ancient roots of Christmas commerce
Pope Julius I (papacy 337 to 352) decreed that Jesus was born on 25 December. Within a few decades, an archbishop was already complaining that his congregation spent the day feasting and drinking rather than praying.
Gluttony and excess have been part of Christmas for as long as Christmas has existed.
The invention of Father Christmas / Santa Claus
The image of a tubby, bearded man in red carrying a sack of presents was popularised by commercial interests, including the Coca-Cola Company.
It was "commercially expedient for a single image to predominate."
The familiar Santa figure is a product of branding, not of folklore.
Tone and style
The Economist praises Flanders for unwrapping "the holiday's history with the excitement and curiosity of a child opening gifts."
The book is described as a comprehensive history that is nevertheless lively and accessible.
Connection to Nissenbaum
Both books argue that Christmas traditions are far more recent and commercially driven than most people assume.
Flanders takes a longer chronological view (Roman era to the present), while Nissenbaum focuses on the American experience from the colonial period to the nineteenth century.
The history of Christmas is a case study in how cultural traditions are manufactured rather than inherited. Marketing professionals, brand strategists and political campaigners all draw on the same mechanisms Nissenbaum and Flanders describe: attaching emotional meaning to commercial products, rewriting history to suit present needs, and creating the illusion of timelessness around something that is, in fact, quite new. Understanding how Christmas was "invented" sharpens your ability to read any cultural narrative critically.
Students often assume that Christmas traditions (the tree, the turkey, Santa Claus, gift-giving) are ancient and religious in origin. They are not. Most date from the nineteenth century and were driven by commercial forces.
Students sometimes think the Puritans objected to Christmas because they were killjoys. The Puritan objection was theological: there is no biblical basis for 25 December as the date of Jesus's birth, and the holiday's pagan roots were well documented.
It is common to believe that Dickens simply captured existing Christmas customs in A Christmas Carol. In fact, the novella actively popularised customs (the turkey dinner, the phrase "merry Christmas") that were not yet widespread.
Students may assume that an evaluative book review is just a summary with a star rating. The Economist article shows that a strong review weaves historical context, critical judgement and textual evidence into every paragraph.
⚠️ Be able to explain the 1820s transformation of Christmas from a public, communal event to a private, domestic one, and to identify capitalism (not religion) as the driving force.
⚠️ Know that Dickens's A Christmas Carol (1843) did not just reflect Christmas culture but actively shaped it. Be able to cite specific examples: the turkey, the greeting "merry Christmas."
⚠️ Be prepared to discuss how the Puritan suppression of Christmas was based on a theological argument (no biblical date for Jesus's birth), not mere prudishness.
⚠️ Understand the difference between summary and evaluative review. The Economist article is a model of evaluative writing: every paragraph contains both factual summary and critical judgement.
True or false: Christmas was always a quiet, family-centred holiday.
False. Before the 1820s it was a rowdy, public celebration centred on taverns and communal feasting.
True or false: The Puritans banned Christmas because they thought parties were sinful.
False. Their objection was theological: no biblical evidence for 25 December.
Fill in the blank: The domestication of Christmas in the 1820s was driven primarily by ______, not religion.
Capitalism.
True or false: A Christmas Carol sold out its first print run within a week of publication.
True. The initial 6,000 copies were gone by Christmas Eve, six days after publication.
Fill in the blank: The familiar image of Santa Claus as a tubby man in red was popularised by ______ interests.
Commercial (including the Coca-Cola Company).
Q: According to Nissenbaum, what was Christmas like in early modern Europe, and how did it differ from the modern holiday?
A: In early modern Europe, Christmas was a time of bacchanalia: rowdy wassailers drank in taverns rather than singing carols in church. It was a public, communal, often disorderly celebration. The modern domestic Christmas, centred on family, gift-giving and the home, did not emerge until the 1820s and was driven by capitalism rather than religious revival.
Q: Why did the Puritans suppress Christmas, and what theological argument did they use?
A: The Puritans argued that Christmas was a "pagan festival covered with a Christian veneer." The Bible gives no date for the birth of Jesus, so there was no scriptural basis for celebrating on 25 December. In Massachusetts, Christmas was formally outlawed.
Q: In what specific ways did Dickens's A Christmas Carol shape modern Christmas culture?
A: A Christmas Carol popularised the turkey as a centrepiece of Christmas dinner and brought the greeting "merry Christmas" into widespread use. The novella is now so embedded in Christmas culture that many of its innovations are mistaken for ancient traditions.
Q: What does Judith Flanders mean when she argues that Christmas commercialism is not a modern development?
A: Flanders shows that gluttony and commercial excess have been part of Christmas since at least the fourth century, when Pope Julius I fixed the date as 25 December and bishops immediately complained about feasting. The image of Father Christmas was itself a product of commercial branding (Coca-Cola among others). Consumerism is not a corruption of Christmas; it is baked in.
Q: How does The Economist article function as a model of evaluative writing?
A: Each paragraph blends factual summary with critical judgement. The reviewer does not simply describe what each book contains; they assess its tone ("funny and irreverent"), its genre (social history for a general audience), and its significance (Dickens "invented" modern Christmas). This integration of summary and evaluation is the hallmark of a strong book review.
This material connects to rhetoric and persuasion (ENGL 102 core) because The Economist article is itself a persuasive text: it argues that these six books are worth reading, using evidence, tone and structure to build its case. Studying how the reviewer marshals historical detail in service of evaluation is directly transferable to your own essay-writing.
It also connects to cultural studies and the social construction of tradition. The argument that Christmas was "invented" in the 1820s parallels work on other supposedly timeless traditions (national anthems, wedding customs, table manners) that turn out to be recent inventions. If your course covers Benedict Anderson's concept of "imagined communities" or Eric Hobsbawm's "invention of tradition," the Christmas material slots in neatly.
Finally, the Dickens material links to any unit on Victorian literature or the social novel. A Christmas Carol is one of the clearest examples of a literary text reshaping real-world behaviour.
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