Tollwood Winter Festival 2012
A snapshot I made in one of the tents of the Tollwood Winter Festival. We were there to fetch a lamp from this booth and to eat some falafel.
I remember when Tollwood started back in 1988. Now we have a summer and a winter festival and because the alternative market supports the cultural acts it is not easy to find something not too expensive.
This year I think the most often sold articles were Buddha statues. They come only in three different flavours and in all sizes. From penny sized up to seven feet…
I’m not too fond of the idea of religious symbols sold as decorative garden gnomes. Christians should be happy that the crucifix is such scary symbol: Imagine China’s front gardens plastered with smiling Jesus statues!
Filed under: Coca Cola did NOT invent the modern Santa Claus!
How many people told you this year that Santa Claus is only an invention by the greedy, evil Coca Cola company? I’m under the impression that this urban legend is getting more popular each year and I’m really tired to hear it. Especially since this myth is used by Christian fundementalists to transport some of their infantile belief systems.
Let’s not dive too deep in the historical root of the Saint Nicholas of Myra. Though this could be amusing: Did you know that he was banned from the Council of Nicea beause of a brawl in a “bar” the night before? But because of some impressive miracles (..with the majority of those occurring centuries after his death…) he is an important saint in the Orthodox and Catholic church.
Like any given religious myth modern Santa developed over a long period of time incorporating many different elements. The Christian missionaries took rites and superstitions they found in heathen countries and integrated them into the “modern” Christian religion all around the world.
Very short version: In Germany and the Netherlands the missionaries took Wotan or Odin – who rode on a horse in the sky once in winter – and mixed him with the generous Nicholas from Turkey.
This version was transported to the United States through the famous poem “Twas the Night before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore in 1822. American illustrator Thomas Nast – from Bavaria! – changed the little elf into the rather well fed grandpa we know today about fifty years later. In 1927 the modern Santa was complete.
The “New York Times” reported in this year: “A standardized Santa Claus appears to New York children. Height, weight, stature are almost exactly standardized, as are the red garments, the hood and the white whiskers. The pack full of toys, ruddy cheeks and nose, bushy eyebrows and a jolly, paunchy effect are also inevitable parts of the requisite make-up.”
There was even a company marketing its softdrink with an exhausted Santa. “White Rock’s Mineral Water” used the old man to market its Ginger Ale lemonade three years before Haddon Sundbloom invented the ‘Coca Cola Santa Claus’.
Case closed. Links: Snopes, White Rock Beverages, Twas the Night, Santa’s Website
Steven J. Christopher is the Messiah
“This is serious folks. I’m the second coming of Christ. This is the New World Order. I am the ONE out of the MANY. I bring ORDER from the CHAOS. I the God replaces “We the People”. I am the Apotheosis – the “man” who becomes God. I am Steven Joseph Christopher. It is my Destined Right to overturn all other world government, and to Govern the entire World. The New World Order begins today, May 26, 2011.”
So this is the Messiah. Phew – I got to admit: That’s VERY different from what I expected! This incarnation gives me that creepy feeling: “Believe in me or I kick your ass so bad!” But let’s have a deeper look in the badly illustrated website of the second coming of Christ:
“Dear Dr. Schoeller,
Over the past week since our last meeting, I decided to make a more exerted effort to prevent any mental illness relapse. The method I chose to accomplish this was to proactively distribute information which contributed to the belief I hold that I am The Messiah.
Because I know myself to be The Messiah and have faith in myself, in the past it was actually detrimental to my mental health NOT to announce to people that I was the Messiah. Fostering a false belief that I was merely a recovering mentally ill person with a delusional disorder in regards to believing to be The Messiah, was actually CONTRIBUTING TO mental illness.
The healthy choices I have been making lately, are made with this question I pose myself: “Is this beneficial to my mental health?” If a particular incident IS beneficial, I act accordingly, if it ISN’T, I act in a way which IS. Since I’ve applied this, my integrity and confidence has improved. It actually is MORE beneficial to my mental health than ever before, because I have now chosen to disclose this to you, a trusted, mental health professional – something I have not felt safe in doing before.
Over the weekend, I passed out approximately 70 little 2” x 3” typed notes to various inmates. The note stated:
“It is beneficial to my mental health to encourage, facilitate and promulgate belief that I am The Messiah (the Returned Christ) and to repudiate (deny) the unbelief of this truth in others. Steven Joseph Christopher”
Dear Mr. Christopher!
I, chosen from God as an ambassador for all Christians now and ever anywhere on this planet hereby declare: “Nope. Thank you for the effort, but no.” I really do not want to discourage you, but we all prefer to wait for another 2000 years instead, o.k? But don’t be too disappointed! Have you already tried the Jews? They wait for the Messiah too, so maybe they are interested? But hey: Don’t tell them I sent you! Please.
