This Christmastide of 2001 ...

[Otto]

Dave Monroe:
> Do not have my copy of ...
>
> Nissenbaum, Stephen.  The Battle for Christmas:
>    A Cultural History of America's Most Cherished
>    Holiday.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.
>
> ... at hand, else I'd post a little something on "This
> Christmastide of 1786" (M&D, Ch. 1, p. 6).  So we
> bring you this Holiday favorite instead ...
>
> http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0012&msg=51652&sort=date
>

"The Puritans were correct when they pointed out--and they pointed it out
often--that Christmas was nothing but a pagan festival covered with a
Christian veneer. (4)"

I think it's been David Morris who had posted this link a year or so ago:
http://www.e-sheep.com/Saturnalia/

Otto