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About Me
- Pete
- New Jersey
- Since my first trip to Gettysburg as a young boy, I've been captivated by History. I get it from my mom. Although she passed away when I was just 13, she still had an influence on me. All our family vacations were stitched around some historical site. So, history geeks are in my blood. I'm a graphic designer by profession and a semi-amateur painter. I love to explore history through my paintbrush. I've also done living history to get a first hand feel for "what it was like". Looking at history through the eyes of the common man (or woman) and understanding the personal, human drama is really the spice that flavors the historical stew!
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Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Merry Christmas
The other day I painted this study of a J.C. Leyendecker painting thinking it would launch me right into the Christmas spirit. It didn't. I just can't get into the spirit like I used to.
It all started as a pagan winter solstice party. What better way to celebrate the season that some revelry and debauchery? Folks seemed to love it, so the church decided they wanted in on it too. Some religious marketing guy came up with the brilliant idea to call it Chirst's birthday. Hey, birthday parties are fun right? "The church won't be a party pooper" they thought.
But they were the party pooper. Eventually, it became just a religious holiday. A pretty solemn one at that. When Washington's soldiers famously crossed the Delaware in 1776, they weren't thinking of presents, trees, eggnog or mistletoe. The Hessians weren't whooping it up either.
Along comes the Victorian era and Christmas changed again. The Queen of England marries a German bloke and suddenly there're Christmas trees everywhere. Then the jolly old elf himself gets a makeover by Thomas Nast. An old pagan friend reappears too. The mistletoe provides the otherwise repressed Victorians a little naughtiness! The Church steps up its game too, so there's a nice mix of the holy and the secular.
But the Church is no match for the Industrial Revolution and a rising middle class. Now almost everyone can buy and give (and receive) presents. Once the commerce ball starts rolling, the Church can't stop it. As far back as the 1960's, Charles Schultz and Dr. Suess noticed and took issue with the commercial/pagan takeover of Christmas.
And now Political Correctness, which has always had a sort of old USSR ring to it, has dealt the death blow. I'm not really a religious person, but I know that it's not the religious aspect of the holiday that inflicts such immense stress on people, it's the commercial part. That is a shame.
So, "Happy Holidays" folks. Looks like the pagans got their party back.
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3 comments:
Pete, Great take on Leyendecker, he rocks! Yeah Christmas is not what it used to be. It sure is not the Christmas we celebrated as kids. Catalogs with Christmas stuff starts coming through the post office as early as July! It's insane. As for the PC end of things, don't get me started. ~Gary
Great painting, Pete! I'm having the opposite experience. Although my job (ups driver) gets to be tad rough this time of year, I have of lately tried to keep a level head about it. We're not a religous family. The kids do go with friends of ours to Sunday School every once in a while, but thats where religion with Christmas ends. The holiday means family and close friends getting together. I must admit, I do have some guilt. My kids get much less than I did as a kid. I wasn't spoiled by any means but was a bit selfish when I was younger. My kids are the total opposite in that they get just as much joy out of giving than receiving. I feel very proud of that. I wish I could see Christmas through their eyes just once. Maybe there's some hope for these future generations.
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