X-Message-Number: 25381 From: Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 16:54:54 EST Subject: Re: Ben Best Christmas monograph is outstanding --fb.6711379b_alt_bound In a message dated 12/22/2004 5:00:34 AM Eastern Standard Time, writes: > Whether we love it, hate it or simply accept it, Christmas thrusts > itself into our lives every December. For years I tried to come to > terms with this event. The most "tangible" result of my struggle > has been a page on my website: "The History of Christmas": > > http://www.benbest.com/history/xmas.html > > I believe that this webpage is the most thorough &detailed > exploration of Christmas from an anthropological &historical > point of view that can be found anywhere on the web. It is > listed in the Yahoo Christmas directory: > > (Rudi Hoffman writing) I just finished Ben's amazing exposition of Christmas. He has provided a remarkably evenhanded, well written, detailed explanation of the background for this (almost) globally celebrated holiday. I can see why this has been picked up by Yahoo as an anthropological study of the rituals and historical background of Christmas. Like a good anthropologist, Ben provides solid behavioral and cultural information. He avoids value judgement, cultural bias, or religion/culture bashing. While I did not see actual footnotes or references to the massive amount of detail he presents, the information correlates with other information I have researched, and seems to be reliable. And very interesting. I intend to forward the link to some people. Tremendous writing on a highly timely topic, Ben. Your education, intellect, and ability to summarize detail really shine in this piece. Merry Christmas to all cryoneters, and to all a good night! Rudi Hoffman --fb.6711379b_alt_bound Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=25381