The season of jollyness is nearly upon us and once again I am filled with horror. Did you ever mean for it to end up like this? No, I suppose you didn't because we humans have a way of twisting the truth of anything and making it fit our needs.
What happened to that gentle midwinter festival of light that all religions and belief systems held dear? It seems to have been replaced by this frenzy of consumerism, this fight for the latest gadget and a need to fill our larders with as much sugar as we can lay our hands on, but the question that is bugging a number of people lately is this...
What colour are you exactly?
.
That school in Brighton that has renounced your redness in favour of a more green greeness.
They are right in a way. In days of old, ( until those nice people at Coca cola got hold of you) you were always depicted with a coat of green and you were a lot slimmer. You represented the hope of spring and getting through the winter without starving to death.
.
I know this is no longer true for most of the nations who celebrate this twisted festival but the red one seems to induce a kind of madness, so don't you think it is time to rein in the reindeer and get back to what is important? Call me a poopy old Pagan, but hasn't the era of the red coat run its course? With poverty still the main cause of death in our world, isn't it about time we started to think about what is on other people's plates and not just our own?
The global debate on the world climate has also started to make some people think HERE (and well done America for seeing sense at last!!) - so it seems that green may be the colour of the season after all.
What do you think, Santa?
Yours sincerely
Mrs Minx
18 comments:
i think he should wear a humble cloak....deep purple, ragged along the edges.
Santa has indeed outlived his usefulness. Christmas is a time for nuns and witches to celebrate together in sisterhood.
Quite frankly, I would rather keep with the traditions I know and keep Santa red.
The earth is the earth. It changes. We get weather. Somehow, I think that Mother Nature knows what she is doing.
...and General Electric and Al Gore, who owns stock in it, also know what they are doing by promoting this entire "green" thing. There are billions to be made from it.
Roberta,
Damn money for spoiling a perfectly good color. Has rampant capitalism soured folks so much that the entire field of renewable energy science is considered just another ploy? If we can see that something must be done, vilifying those who do something is plain old ostrichism.
Minx, I think the fat fop should be paraded in the town square, naked and in stocks for being the posterboy for rampant consumerism as a reminder of its mess.
I never knew he ever wore green, but I see no evil in wearing red and gaining weight. ( I seem to do that this time of year myself)
I am married to a conservative, thus hear those thoughts all the time, so my ideas run closer to Roberta's.
Plus it is damn cold here. My concern is not so much the weather but..
Pollution, chemical dumping, those things really bother me. I wish there was more focus on them, and on not doing that. Finding alternatives there.
I don't feel overwrought by consumerism (I haven't been to the mall). I like the idea of gift giving. What I don't like is a mad dash, and then frantically, stressfully trying to get "just the right thing". So we don't do that. I have swayed the adults in the family over to the beauty of gift certificates. No sweater my mom could pick out could ever warm me, like a Barnes and Noble gift certifcate. Plus this way, there aren't all those well intentioned but unwanted gifts cluttering about each other's homes.
I do think that gifts from the heart are wonderful, poems, songs, handmade things. I admit we don't give those sorts of things, it would be nice if sometimes we did.
I say: why not red and green stripes, to fuse the old and the new? Red and white go good together though.
I say: Christmas giving and cheer, with loved ones coming together, should be on lots of days throughout the year.
Hohoho.
Purple is good, Vesper, I know someone who really likes that colour!
We do GB, we do!
Mother nature is struggling, Roberta. Our governments often keep us in the dark about things that they consider damaging to their own pockets. The truth is laid out on the table - carbon emissions are adding considerably to the greenhouse effect. Surely it is better that we are all aware and able to make some kind of difference?
This is not scaremongery - the European Commission is working hard to preserve what we have and I would rather keep the Earth in the green than let it go into the red!
Consumerism is indeed rampant, G&G. News on the (UK) streets is that hundreds of children are going to be neglected this year because there is a shortage of Nintendo Wii's (only £249 if you can get one).
There is no evil in a red or a green coat, Taff, but what does Christmas mean to most? Call me a hippy Pagan but haven't we lost sight of what is important?
The giving of a gift is lovely at this time of year but why so much?
I went shopping today and there was not a sign of a Christmas carol or a happy face just stressed individuals carrying enough tat to feed a village in Africa for the next six months!
BTW, I bought a goat today....
http://www.greatgifts.org/?adid=wvaff07
I agree, Shameless, red and green can work perfectly well together!
Bah phoeey humbug!
I hate Christmas and I'm not afraid of the hate mail that's bound to follow. I know of people who are paying off their Xmas credit card debt midway through the following year. What happened to oranges as gifts? I get really angry when I HAVE to buy a gift and don't get me started on Christmas cards and live trees.
Red, green, purple, pink who cares let's put fatboy on a diet.
Marry me, Loretta and we will humbug together!
I celebrate Yule (Midwinter Solstice) on the 21st. There is no other pressure other than to light a candle for the world and eat a good meal. This season of 'I want' makes me furious.
Argh - Blogger ate my comment.
Again: The school in the article is the one my goddaughter and her brother attended.
No 1) So what's wrong with encouraging kids to think outside the box and challenge commonly held concepts? Isn't this what education should be all about??? Rather than chucking out unthinking consumerist clones?
No 2) When the article says the exercise is pointless cos most of the kids at the school are British - oh right. So that means they shouldn't learn about or be sensitive to or aware of other cultures and ways of thinking, does it?
Don't start me (oh, you already have ...) I'm on very dodgy ground here. So all I'll say now is that if Minxy and LMN get married, can I be bridesmaid?
Christmas is crap, it's for kids, and as I dont want/have any it's a ball-ache! Happy Easter!
Don't get me onto Easter, John G, you wouldn't like it!!
A Yule goat?
I'm with Seamus on this one... I like the idea of stripes.
If the elves have to do it, so should Santa...
But, I also like the idea of him all in white, from head to toe; he'd blend with the snow at home then, or ice blue... that'd be nice.
Mostly I like him with the classic look (do they call it Victorian?) in which he traverses the snowy mountains in traveling robes and the magic is his love for the kids - not the commericalized coke drinking, sleigh driving, movie making, parade king that marketing twats have turned him in to.
Can I say marketing twats?
Excuse me.
Promotional twats.
Scarlett & Viaggiatore
Scarlett I am laughing so hard right now!!
Thank you. I needed that!
Minx, I am environmentally friendly. We've replaced all of our light bulbs with those squiggly kind that will kill you if you break them...I burn wood, the fallen trees around my house, to stay warm. I can't afford one of those hybrid cars so I drive less often. I recycle. As a matter of fact, I began a recycling system in my neighborhood.
I eat leftovers.
I've turned the heating system down two degrees. I constantly wear polypropolene sweaters made of recycled plastic.
I'm doing my bit.
However, when I see someone of public notice taking "charge" and receiving a Nobel Peace Prize for something he is profiting from, I get a tad pissy.
Just a tad pissy...because it raises my blood pressure and then I get hot.
Which I'm sure Al Gore is attributing to Global Warming.
I say this: Most of us are baby boomers. Let's harness the effects of the hot flash!
Just a thought.
Debi as bridesmaid? The mind boggles.
All your points taken and agreed with.
No 2 - I live in a county that is short on a diverse population but we never fail to celebrate all cultures at all times of the year. All or none is the policy.
Yes, Leslie, buy a goat (or a llama, or chickens or a coffee bag garden for Africa) for Yule - it's a good thang!
I gave out leaflets yesterday to our parents and carers, Scarlett, "20 tips for not getting into debt this Christmas" - says it all really.
Roberta, laughing too, you're a genius!!
Harnessing the hot flash (flush-UK)could be the answer to all our needs.
I also understand your pissyness but constant pressure in Bali is what changed the US delegates minds. We should keep on keeping on!
Yes please, more green and more getting real. I wonder if we can ask Santa for a good dose of truth and reality for Christmas. I'm with you on this you old hippy pagan Minxy creature.
Thanks, Vanilli, I often feel like an old poopypants when I air my Christmas views. Having said all that I do love this time of year - cold, clear, crisp days, families gathered together and the knowledge that after Yule the daylight gets longer again. It's bloody freezing today.
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