The first commercially printed Christmas card is up for sale – a merry Victorian-era scene that scandalised some who denounced it as humbug when it first appeared in 1843. The card, being sold online starting Friday through a consortium run by Marvin Getman, a US-based dealer in rare books and manuscripts, depicts an English family Read more
Germany’s Protestant Church has complainedd of the “merciless commercialisation” of Christmas and the early opening of festive markets in some cities. “What remains of the rhythm of life, the rhythm of the liturgical year, when everything is available all the time and thus arbitrary?” said a spokeswoman of the Evangelical Church in Germany. Continue reading
Are you tired of the commercialism that has ravaged the true meaning of Christmas, Easter, Saint Patrick’s Day, and other ideally sacred days? Speaking of Saint Patrick’s Day, doesn’t Saint Valentine’s Day have a similarly better ring to it? How ironic that, although Saint Valentine opposed the pagan Roman practices, a particular neo-paganism has taken over Read more