Books » Holidays Nonfiction

A comprehensive examination of the rituals and philosophies of the Celtic holiday of Samhain, the inspiration for Halloween.? Presents the true meaning of this ancient holiday and shows how contemporary observances still faithfully reflect the rituals of pagan ancestors.? Explains why this holiday, largely confined to the English-speaking world since the advent of Christianity, has spread throughout the rest of Europe over the last two decades.One of humanity's most enduring myths is that the dead, on certain nights of the year, can leave the Other World and move freely about the land of the living. Every year on October 31, when the children of the world parade through the streets dressed as monsters, skeletons, and witches, they reenact a sacred ceremony whose roots extend to the dawn of time. By receiving gifts of sweets from strangers, the children establish, on a symbolic plane that exceeds their understanding, a fraternal exchange between the visible world and the invisible world. Author Jean Markale meticulously examines the rituals and ceremonies of ancient festivities on this holiday and shows how they still shape the customs of today's celebration. During the night of Samhain, the Celtic precursor of today's holiday, the borders between life and death were no longer regarded as insurmountable barriers. Two-way traffic was temporarily permitted between this world and the Other World, and the wealth and wisdom of the sidhe, or fairy folk, were available to the intrepid individuals who dared to enter their realm. Markale enriches our understanding of how the transition from the light to the dark half of the year was a moment in which time stopped and allowed the participants in the week-long festival to attain a level of consciousness not possible in everyday life, an experience we honor in our modern celebrations of Halloween. 

Practical suggestions for ecstatic seasonal renewal by celebrating the solstices.

Why is a girl's fifteenth birthday celebration (quinceañera) more elaborate than the sixteeth?
Why is the Day of the Dead cause for celebration?
Why is the Virgin of Guadalupe the patron saint of a whole continent?

The answer to these and many more questions can be found in this thoroughly entertaining and essential guide to Hispanic holidays. Learn how Latinos traditionally celebrate their national holidays, religious festivals, weddings, birthdays, and coming-of-age celebrations. The major feasts, festivals and family-orientated events are featured, with a particular emphasis on Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican celebrations.

This book describes each celebration within its historical context and discusses the popular traditions that have been established over time. Most importantly, ¡Celebremos! shows how these events are currently celebreted in the United States, to help preseve family unity, cultural identity, and Hispanic heritage. And because almost all celebrations are associated with wonderful foods, ¡Celebremos! includes a handy list of recipes to make each festivity an event with genuine Hispanic flavor.

En esta espléndida extravagancia literaria, veinticino de los más conocidos escritores latinos nos agradan y nos conmueven con sus recuerdos navideños.

El cuento de Julia Álvarez nos enseña como Santicló libró de opresión política a su querido tío. Junot Díaz recuerda su inquieta asimilación a un nuevo país al pasar su primera Navidad en los Estados Unidos. Sandra Cisneros sigue con las memorias nostálgicas de las sabrosuras navideñas que preparó su papá. Las Christmas nos trae verdaderas historias de las muy distintas tradiciones de varios escritores--historias que vivamente captan el orgullo, el dolor, la alegría, y la pena que siempre acompañan las Navidades en todas las Américas.

Magníficamente ilustrado y adornado con canciones y recetas--desde tamales dulces tradicionales hasta asopao puertorriqueño--para unas fiestas inolvidables.

Un sabroso y alentador regalo de Navidad.

Con 26 ilustraciones de José Ortega

Pages: 159, Library Binding, Omnigraphics

A resource guide to Kwanzaa is organized around the seven principles and describes the traditions, practices, and cultural foundations of the holiday, providing celebrants with hundreds of suggestions for gift giving, food preparation, and more. Tour.

Mexico's Festival of Communion with the Departed / Los Dias de Muertos, un Festival de Comunion con los Muertos en Mexico

This book offers a remarkable look at Mexico's traditional holiday honoring departed ancestors, friends, and family. Each aspect of the multiday festival is carefully explored: the journey to the cemeteries to spruce up neglected gravesites, the lively marketplace selling breads and candies in the shapes of skulls and skeletons, the peaceful vigil as friends and families crowd the cemeteries to await the arrival of their loved ones through the long night.

San Francisco-based photographer John Greenleigh traveled to small towns in Mexico in four different years to document this extraordinary festival. Accompanied by evocative text by cultural scholar Rosalind Rosoff Beimler, the pictures speak eloquently to a ritual that is at once mocking and respectful of death---and ultimately affirming of human life.

Dias de muertos -- Days of the Dead -- is celebrated in Mexico each year in late October and early November. It is a family reunion in which the dead are the guests of honor who are welcomed with their favorite foods, carefully chosen gifts, and ritual paraphernalia such as candles and incense. Some of the objects show tenderness, some, a sense of perspective about life and death, and some, a frank sense of humor.

In Digging the Days of the Dead, Juanita Garciagodoy depicts various aspects of the celebration -- including Prehispanic and Spanish Catholic traces on its development as well as folk and popular culture versions -- and describes its changing place in contemporary Mexico. She dedicates two chapters to close readings of calaveras, figures and scenes of "lively" skeletons that reveal details of popular philosophy about, for instance, gender and class relations and identity politics. There is also an analysis of the struggle between the traditional holiday and Hallowe'en. Garciagodoy examines in detail differences in attitudes towards death in Mexico and the United States. In part because the living do not exclude the dead from their family circle, celebrants of Dias de Muertos treat death as an intimate life companion and fear it less than their northern counterparts, who tend to view death as inimical. Lavishly illustrated with 96 black and white photographs and reproductions of Posada's engravings, Digging the Days of the Dead is indispensable for scholars interested in Mexican religion and culture.

Special events management is a multifaceted subject, demanding expertise in a range of areas-from event planning and management, consulting, and production, to lighting, sound, entertainment, decor, and catering. This book is the first complete, integrated guide on how to start, develop, and manage a profitable special events-related business.

Array