Most of us don’t have the time or the inclination to learn the historical roots of our holidays. A day off from the modern, cubicle-infested workplace is its own explanation and justification. Gabriella Kalapos has taken the time to do some digging and has gone through the calendar, from New Year’s Day clear through to Christmas, to give us the goods on our days off.

In a breezy and sometimes annoyingly colloquial way – talking about “some guy named Jesus” or asking, rhetorically, “what’s up with that?” – Kalapos explains how many of our holidays have pagan rather than religious roots and that there has been a profound cultural shift from matrilineal to patrilineal celebrations. If history is written by the victors, then the current mythology around our holidays, Kalapos argues, has been created by patriarchal organized religion.

There is a lot of fascinating material here. From the changing of the seasons to calendars and festivals – Lupercalia, Pomona, Saturnalia, Samhain – to fertility rites and phases of the moon, Kalapos offers up many fascinating anecdotes, factoids, and points for debate. She is continually undone, however, by her own random musings that may or may not be accurate, but that are far too general for anyone to care about. This tends to happen at the end of each chapter and leaves the reader begging for more facts and fewer blog-style riffs. If a professor of comparative religion says something about sexism in modern religion, it’s simply more compelling than an author chiming in on the topic willy-nilly.

For someone who appears to want people to stop, think, and judge things for themselves, Kalapos is occasionally preachy. Talking about Thanksgiving and being seduced by materialism, Kalapos writes, “We have bought into this plan, hook, line, and sinker.” And, incredibly, in the same paragraph, referring to people needing to take responsibility for their consumerist ways, she writes, “As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” Clichés are to be avoided like the pl – er, just avoid them! A couple of hours on Google or with the author’s own bibliography might be more efficient and rewarding.