The Joy of "A Christmas Carol"

Dickens Directed Study
July 10, 2001
The Joy of A Christmas Carol
The feelings associated with Christmas and the Christmas season are vast and varied. The original celebration was confined to the religious rite commemorating the birth of Christ and the subsequent advent of Christianity. For centuries, Christmas was singularly a holy day that was observed with more solemnity than joy. In 601 AD, Pope Gregory instructed his missionary (St. Austin, of Canterbury) to make the local winter feast a Christian festival. (1) During this period in history, the Medieval Church disregarded any con…