Christmas from A to Z

Christmas is the most widely celebrated Christian holiday in the world. With its great cultural prominence, Christmas in increasingly celebrated by members of other religions and has great implications in the secular world in terms of its influence on arts, culture, retail, and business. This reference work includes more than 200 alphabetically arranged entries, covering Christmas, New Year's, and related days of observance around the world. It also includes discussions of folk and religious customs, history, legends, and symbols related to these holidays. Christmas A to Zis beautifully illustrated and is rounded out with a guide to further reading. ;The entries are uniformly readable and well documented. . . . Highly recommended. ;- Choice

Tanya Gulevich is the author of Encyclopedia of Christmas; Encyclopedia of Easter, Carnival and Lent; Understanding Islam and Muslim Traditions; and World Holiday, Festival and Calendar Books. She holds a PhD in cultural anthropology and an MA in psychology. She works in private practice as a mental health therapist in the Bay Area.