Images of shoppers approaching mayhem as they jostle for Black Friday “bargains’ reprise unsavory Christmas scenes from an earlier era in American history.

“The early 19th century was a period of class conflict and turmoil,” according to www.history.com. “During this time, unemployment was high and gang rioting by the disenchanted classes often occurred during the Christmas season. In 1828, the New York city council instituted the city’s first police force in response to a Christmas riot.”

Sound eerily familiar?

With inspiration from American author Washington Irving’s “The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent.” and British writer Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” Americans of that epoch altered their approach to Christmas, transforming it from “a raucous carnival holiday into a family-centered day of peace and nostalgia,” according to the website.

Dickens’ theme — that greed blights the Christmas spirit, condemning individuals and society to damnation — resurrects itself more powerfully every year.

Irving’s lesser known work proposes that “Christmas should be a peaceful, warm-hearted holiday bringing groups together across lines of wealth or social status,” at least as interpreted by www.history.com.

What we now perceive to be age-old holiday traditions actually derive from 19th century America’s need to kindle good will during a divisive, turbulent, economically stressed era.

Amid similar circumstances, we encourage readers to reject greed and rescue Christmas 2011 from Madison Avenue and Wall Street by embracing the spirit that Dickens and Irving evoke with their transcendent tales.

How?

Here are a few simple suggestions that will spread the true spirit of Christmas to people within our community:

— Donate blood. Check our daily calendar page or go online to www.redcrossblood.org to find dates and times for nearby blood drives.

— Help the Salvation Army support local families. Send checks to 25 Congress Ave., Bath, ME 04530 or drop money in one of the kettles outside area businesses.

— Shelter vulnerable community members from Maine’s harsh winter weather with a donation to Tedford Housing or Warm Thy Neighbor. Call 729-1161 to inquire how to make a donation. The Women’s Fitness Studio on Stanwood Street in Brunswick is supporting Warm Thy Neighbor with a special December promotion.

— Every dollar donated to local hunger prevention programs transforms into $8 to $10 worth of food from the Good Shepherd Food Bank. Before digging into a holiday bounty, share some sustenance with the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, 84A Union St., Brunswick, ME 04011. To find out how to help an ongoing mobile food truck effort in Bath, contact Kimberly Gates at kfgates@msn.com.

For more information about the Bath Area Food Bank, visit www.bathfoodbank.org or email director@bathfoodbank.org.

Helping any of the programs listed above, or similar ground-level aid initiatives, will provide tangible — in some cases, life-saving — assistance to local people who can’t look forward to celebrating Christmas or any other holiday because they lack such basic needs as food, shelter, heat or clothing.