random quotes ... to amuse, inspire, enrage:
  Abigail Pogrebin shouldn't worry so much about Christmas trees.

The decorated tree is a pagan tradition from North European "tree god" traditions. For most of recorded history, the Christmas tree didn't feature at all in Christian celebrations. In fact, the festival of Christmas itself, coming as it does so close to midwinter solstice, is pagan in origin.

The Victorians rediscovered the Christmas tree in the mid-19th century, and for some reason (the looks and the lovely pine smell?) the idea caught on.

True, a Christmas tree isn't Jewish. But then it isn't Christian either.

Is it unrealistic to imagine that everyone, including atheists such as myself, can enjoy Christmas for what it is, a midwinter festival featuring lots of presents, food and booze?

tagged: Christmas, religion
  —Kirkham Roger, Salon.com, response to an article about Christmas, http://salon.com/mwt/letters/2003/12/23/strom_hanukkah/print.html.

Archive for January, 2008

Southern “mistrust”

Monday, January 21st, 2008

Okay, still on hiatus, but this NYT Magazine article on Democratic presidential contenders Clinton & Obama annoyed me:
In other words, if you condescend to Southerners or simply don’t show up, then it’s all but impossible to erase the legacy of mistrust left over from the era of desegregation.
“Legacy of mistrust left over from the era [...]

Tagged racism, , , , . | 150 views | 3 Comments »