Whether they're decorating Easter trees or celebrating Wagner's birthday by playing recordings of his Ring cycle operas and incinerating a model of Valhalla on an outdoor barbecue to the closing strains of "Gotterdamerung," Americans know both how to create and how to celebrate holidays.

Jack Santino's guide to such frivolity is a wonderfully readable exploration of holidays, periods of festivity, and life-cycle rituals and celebrations. Santino draws on history, anthropology, popular culture, and folklore to show the intricate relationships between holidays and the roles that celebrations and rituals play in people's lives.


A wonderfully readable exploration of holidays, periods of festivity, and life-cycle rituals and celebrations

About the Author
Jack Santino, is a professor of popular culture at Bowling Green University. He is the author of Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle: Stories of Black Pullman Porters and Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life, Spontaneous Shrines and the Public Memorialization of Death.


Reviews
"Pores over the solemn and funny means people use to celebrate throughout the year... The meaning of symbols and the ongoing creation of new ones makes for an interesting, stimulating discussion." -- Booklist



Book Information
ISBN 9780252065163
Author Jack Santino
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint University of Illinois Press
Publisher University of Illinois Press
Weight(grams) 399g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 23mm