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Strange or silly as some of these customs might seem, I'd rather have my calendar structured around cultural traditions than around corporate budget forecasts. I don't care how much retailers are worried about fourth-quarter earnings. If they play Christmas music before Thanksgiving, they won't get my money.

Elesha Coffman is managing editor of Christian History magazine.

Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

More Christian history, including a list of events that occurred this week in the church's past, is available at ChristianHistory.net.

Information for this article was adapted from the Encyclopedia of Christmas, by Tanya Gulevich (Omnigraphics, 2000).

More on the history of advent is available from Inter Mirifica ("a Roman Catholic media apostolate"), the Catholic Encyclopedia, and Christmas.com.

Christian History has examined the history and meaning of Advent before. Other articles are available in Christian History's holidays area.

Holland's official tourism site offers more information about St. Nicholas's birthday, while the Instructional Materials Center at the University of Missouri-Kansas City has a lengthy article on St. Lucia Day.

The BBC has an online advent calendar where each day more history about Christmas is revealed

Christian History Corner appears every Friday at ChristianityToday.com. Previous editions include:

Eat, Drink, and Relax | Think the Pilgrims would frown on today's football-tossing, turkey-gobbling Thanksgiving festivities? Maybe not. (Nov. 21, 2001)

Where Are the Women? | The Christian tradition includes few female history-writers but plenty of female history-makers. (Nov. 20, 2001)

God Bless, More or Less | Irving Berlin's anthem captures America. (Nov. 2, 2001)

Festival of Fears | What's scarier than Halloween? The anxieties that drive it. (Oct. 26, 2001)

Forget 'Normal' | C.S. Lewis's warning against panic during World War II resonates in our new crisis. (Oct. 19, 2001)

Apocalypse Not | As speculations mount regarding the significance of recent events in God's plan for the end of the world, voices from the past urge restraint. (Oct. 12, 2001)

'He Does Not War' | In the Anabaptist tradition, a Christian must never fight back. (Sept. 28, 2001)

A Time For War? | Augustine's "just war" theory continues to guide the West. (Sept. 21, 2001)

The House That Jack Built | C.S. Lewis and six of his literary friends open their doors to students and researchers at Wheaton College's impressive new Wade Center facility. (Sept. 14, 2001)

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December (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45