Holiday

S5, E2: From PBS - Craft in America, the Peabody Award-winning and Emmy-nominated series is an inspirational journey to the artists, objects, techniques and origins of American craft. Holiday embraces familiar and new winter celebrations as part of our American experience with the handmade. Celebrate some of our most important cultural and religious customs and get inspired to discover your own creativity. Meet Harley Refsal, acclaimed wood carver and Nordic folk artist as he explains that many holiday traditions including Santa and the Christmas tree come from the winter solstice, the pagan holiday that marked the start of the solar year. Watch as the grand prize is awarded at the annual National Gingerbread House Competition, which attracts hundred of extraordinary entries from across the country. Visit the Biltmore House, the largest privately owned home in the U.S., where the Christmas decorations and mementoes hint at the timeless holidays of a glorious bygone age. Colorado artist Susan Garson hand paints fanciful designs on menorahs that she molds from clay, and she takes us to her congregation for a special Chanukah celebration. Witness the colorful Mexican influence on Christmas in San Antonio, Texas. Follow hundreds in the Gran Posada procession; watch Dora Garcia and Gerardo Muñoz of Garcia Art Glass blow glass ornaments; see ceramic artist Veronica Castillo make a vibrant Navidad Tree of Life; cook traditional tamales with Isabel and Enrique Sanchez; and create luminarias with papel picado artist Kathleen Trenchard.