\u201cDelaware\u2019s Christmas traditions echo the broader American story,\u201d writes the author, who highlights the ways in which First State residents have been \u201cremarkably flexible\u201d in blending \u201ccustoms that took root in the colonies\u201d with later demographic, social, and cultural changes. The book\u2019s first section, \u201cCultural Traditions,\u201d explores how various peoples have contributed to the history of Delaware\u2019s Yuletide celebrations. The Scandinavians, Tabler notes, first settled the New Sweden colony in the 17th century and devoted particular attention to the celebration of St. Lucia. Although many groups covered in this section are colonial settlers or 19th-century European immigrants\u2014from the Dutch who celebrated St. Nicholas to the Italians who introduced the Feast of the Seven Fishes\u2014the book also notes the great influence of non-Europeans. For example, he tells of how enslaved African people lived in Delaware starting in the 1600s, and he notes how free Black communities during the antebellum era observed Christmas in independent churches \u201cfree from white control.\u201d Later, some Delaware residents observed Kwanzaa, which also emphasized \u201ccommunity building and cultural preservation.\u201d The state\u2019s Latino population grew in the late 20th century, and they added such celebrations as the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The book\u2019s second and third parts offer a chronological history of various Christmas customs, from the popularity of sleigh bells and poinsettias in the 19th century to the impact of consumer culture and gift-giving in the 20th. The final section surveys post\u2013World War II traditions, including the \u201960s fad of making wreaths out of IBM punch cards, used by DuPont and other local employers, and ubiquitous \u201cChristmas in July\u201d sales among stores in coastal towns.<\/p>\n
The book\u2019s nostalgic style may not appeal to more academically minded readers, but its upbeat, inclusive approach reflects the holiday season at its joyous best. A major highlight of the book is its use of full-color, festive illustrations and images of photos, paintings, magazine covers, and other holiday ephemera, many of which are in the public domain. Tabler has authored three other works on Delaware history, and he clearly has a firm understanding of the state\u2019s unique place in American culture; he also fruitfully draws on primary source material from more than two dozen of the state\u2019s archives, museums, universities, and historical societies. The work\u2019s only drawback is its oversized back matter, \u201cChapter Continuations,\u201d which offers additional exposition on the topics in each chapter. This information is often diverting, but the section comprises more than a third of the book\u2019s total length and ultimately makes for a disjointed read. Readers who are looking for a history of Scandinavian Christmas observance, for instance, will not only need to read the book\u2019s opening chapter, but also multiple pages of additional information in the final section that\u2019s longer than the initial chapter itself. Still, despite this editorial misstep, the book is a beautifully crafted and colorful work.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cDelaware\u2019s Christmas traditions echo the broader American story,\u201d writes the author, who highlights the ways in which First State residents have been \u201cremarkably flexible\u201d in blending \u201ccustoms that took root in the colonies\u201d with later demographic, social, and cultural changes. The book\u2019s first section, \u201cCultural Traditions,\u201d explores how various peoples have contributed to the history […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3481"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}