Fertility Goddesses, Groundhog Bellies, and the Coca-Cola Company: The Origins of Modern Holidays

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Our year is punctuated with special days. Some are full-fledged
holidays, recognized by governments and employers as grounds for a day
off work. Others haven’t achieved that status, but are acknowledged in
other ways, such as by wearing green or carving faces on pumpkins.

Kalapos looks at 18 holidays and the traditions and practices
associated with them. The selection, which she declares to be
“Western/Christianized,” includes many days familiar to Canadians:
New Year’s, Valentine’s, Groundhog Day, St. Patrick’s, April
Fool’s, Easter, Mother’s and Father’s Days, Halloween, Christmas,
Labour Day, Remembrance Day, Thanksgiving. Others are less widely known:
May Day, Lammas, John the Baptist Day, Friday the 13th, Guy Fawkes’
Night.

The essay on each holiday includes a mix of history, legend, mythology,
religious linkages, sociology, and personal opinion. Apparently
there’s a sexual connection, at least historically, for nearly every
holiday. This is explored in repetitious detail. There’s little on how
the holidays are celebrated today, but rather the emphasis in on origins
and the evolution from ancient cultures to current society. There are a
few mentions of commercialism, but we’re spared the usual rant on this
topic. A recurring theme is the loss of status for women as society
shifted from recognizing the female as goddess to a male-dominated
culture.

The style is informal, chatty, and punctuated with snippets of modern
slang (“As if!”). Notes on sources, a bibliography, and an index add
to the credibility and usefulness of the work.

The author proposes that holidays are “cultural relics”; by
celebrating them we are preserving a legacy for future generations. The
purpose of the book, she says, is to help us understand the “world,
human nature and ourselves.”