Nahant to hold weekend talk on history of Christmas

NAHANT – The holiday events continue this weekend in Nahant, with a special presentation on the four centuries of Christmas. There are some surprises.Santa Claus, Christmas Trees and poinsettias may seem like enduring Christmas traditions, but they wouldn’t be familiar to a 17th-Century New Englander. Especially since Christmas was outlawed in that era.”A lot of traditions that we think of as age-old are actually not,” said historian and Nahant resident Kenneth C. Turino, of Historic New England.Turino will present The Spirit of Christmas Past: Four Centuries of Christmas in New England this Sunday afternoon at the Nahant Community Center. The event is the Paterson Lecture sponsored by the Nahant Historical Society and incorporates local art and historical sources.Read when and where in Saturday’s Daily Item.