Holidays For Children

Although we generally think of Valentine's Day as a time when boys and girls trade insults inside the covers of mushy cards that feature lovesick skunks and various other amorous animals, the holiday's history is actually much more serious: Father Valentine, who lends his name, also lost his head on February 14. Ah, but the cracking of bone, and the severing of arteries...these are not the images we bring to mind on Whitman Sampler day. One of 12 programs in the ambitious Holidays for Children series, Valentine's Day is hosted by folk performer Michael Keck, and features puppet skits, animated stories, ballet dancers, and a make-your-own-paper-flowers project to explore the variety of ways in which we show our love for others. Particularly commendable is the way the program raises love from a person-to-person hormonal tango to a noble philosophical creed, notably in a segment which encourages children to visit with and cherish the elderly. Another entry, Cinco de Maya, uses the same format, and traces the history of the famous Mexican holiday celebrating the Battle of Puebla, in which Mexico emerged victorious, handing France its butt on a tortilla. Children will also learn how to make a maraca, see an interesting iconographic animated creation story, and hear songs, including "Beautiful Heaven," which will be instantly recognizable to many as the "Frito Bandito Song." Although I enjoyed the series overall, there were a couple of strange items: in Valentine's Day, the video claims that "romance" was born 800 years ago, which not only mistakes a literary conceit (the medieval notion of courtly love) for a change in human nature, but also ignores the rather substantial contributions on the subject of romance from poets such as Ovid and Sappho over a millennium earlier. Second, in Cinco de Maya, the completely off the subject song "Ships of Misfortune," is your basic dig against the Spanish conquerors who were unquestionably imperialistic worms, but they did at least have a salutary effect on the "pacific" native people's marked fondness for human sacrifice. Minor quibbles aside, however, this long-awaited video series which introduces children to holidays in America and around the globe is highly recommended. The other titles in the series are: Arbor Day, Halloween, Chinese New Year, Christmas, Hanukkah/Passover, Kwanzaa, Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Easter. Ages 5-8. (R. Pitman)