musings

Archive for the ‘nablopomo’ Category

A person I admire lots has posted a rather pungent rant on the drawbacks pains evil will of cristians agony of being Jewish during the current “holiday” season. I do not mean to belittle your discomfort, nor to belittle in any way what you feel. Not at all. As someone who was raised with a kind of cristian (well, ok catholic) background, I am, unfortunately, part of the masses that participate in the spectacle that is, cringe, the holiday season.

I was raised with very liberal ideals; my maternal grandfather, son of a potentially Jewish mother (we just don’t know) and a father who was heir to a rather large chunk of the publishing industry in Italy, was anti-clerical. This means that he was anti-church and to be anti-church in Italy is a huge deal. On my father’s side they were a little more “conventional.” BUT my paternal grandmother followed the Greek Orthodox rite which was terribly confusing for us kids: “Nonna, we’re not GREEK!?!” My parents took a very 1960s approach to my religious edumacation and sent me to CCD classes (a year later than everyone else), made sure I received my first communion and then promptly forgot about my “church” education. They both made sure, however, that my spiritual life was tended to like a delicate garden, an orchid farm, if you will.

There are certain things that make me a good catholic girl: I believe in transubsantiation; I believe that there was a young man who was a good Jew and he talked about love and sharing; I believe that when I pray, good things happen. There are certain things that make me a bad catholic girl: I believe in a woman’s right to choose; I believe that nothing calamitous happens if I do a tarot card reading; I believe that everyone who wishes to receive communion, should; and I also believe that if I choose to pray to Buddha, White Tara, G-d, or Allah, I have every right to. Not such a good girl who follows the teachings of Cathol, eh?

Now, on to the question, rather rant, at hand. Living in New York City affords me certain liberties that I often forget do not exist in other parts of the country. No one in NYC has EVER wished me a Merry Christmas, unless I was surrounded by friends and family who knew it was appropriate. I often wish Happy Channukah, or yell Mazel Tov when I hear of a friends engagement, or better yet, wish good Shabbes around Passover. Heck, I’d probably be the shabbes goy if I lived in Williamsburg. Ok, so I’m a little bit special…but I understand your frustration.

I feel a similar kind of frustration because (watchout for the lightning!) I don’t consider Christmas a very high holy day. Firstly, I really believe that all the chaos that we feel around this time is partly due to a very well executed campaign by coca-cola and by the frenzy that seems to have taken hold of us (I use the pronoun very liberally, here) in the last years. This must go and shop, shop, shop that grips people and that begins sometime around Halloween (a very pagan day). I heard people wish each other Merry Christmas on the day after Thanksgiving (a holiday I rather like alot). It’s crazy. And it takes away from the potential spiritual power that December 24th and 25th might have. I say might, because in recent years, it seems, that that young man who seemed to be good with words (not to mention loaves and fish) was not born in winter at all. Some scholars believe that he may have been born in June or July. Some scholars also believe that he was married and that he had brothers and sisters. But again, I digress.

All of this to say, I feels yer pain. I say, less red and white and green anything around our cities. Let’s all just try to be good all the time, not just now. As for those pesky people who insist on wishing Derek Powazek a Merry Christmas: well, there’s really no hope for y’all at all.

May 2009 makes us more welcoming, understanding and appreciative of each others’ beliefs.

So after more than a day and a half of full-on wrapping gifts, it seems I’m done. Then again, you never know, cause there might be one or two pesky reindeer who come back late from their rounds. Naturally, after all that exertion, I become contemplative. I started thinking, well, when on earth did we begin wrapping gifts and why do some of us (me) seem to be crazed, obsessed, fixated love wrapping paper more than the gifts themselves?

Seems that we began wrapping gifts around 105AD, when paper was invented. In China, according to a few sources, all of the paper making process was considered sacred and was kept secret. If someone were to give the secret of making paper away, they could be put to death. On the other hand, the history of wrapping presents for Christmas did not flourish until the Victorian period. Naturally, this was popular only in the upper classes, as the lower class, probably, could not afford it. Wrapping paper of that time was elaborately printed and topped with ribbons and laces.

In the US, gifts were wrapped with tissue paper (my fave!!) until the 1920s, when wrapping paper began being sold by the Hall Brothers (yes, as in Hallmark) as an alternative to tissue paper. Seems that in 1917, the Hall Brothers had run out of tissue and began to sell colored paper that was originally used to line boxes. They had purchased the paper from a French company (of course) and sold it very cheaply. The following year, they doubled the price of the liner paper and poof! the wrapping paper industry was born.

Go fig!

If you have passed by these parts recently, you may have noticed that I’ve been having some thematic issues. The point being here, is that I am attempting a whole site redesign and I want it all to flow with well, a joining theme. Now, I absolutely [heart] the DePoSkinny theme, which is what I’ve been using for a while now. I also like the boxy theme that everyone (Ludie, Nelson, Sara…) seem to love; though I suspect that it’s for reasons of nostalgia.

So, the conundrum? I like the simple lines (non existing) of this current theme; I like the ability to showcase some of my interests in the little boxes in the other theme; I like the absence of color of the DePoSkinny because I think it allows the reader to concentrate on the writing; not that there has been quality writing as of late, but I like to believe that one of these days there will be substance. Substance dagnabit! But I digress.

If anyone wants to “tool around” with this current theme (or heck, should monsieur Powazek wanna pass by and say, I dunno, add a column to this fabulous theme) I’d be more than happy to feature them on this very blog; bestow eternal gratitude; name a tree after them. If I haven’t been terribly clear about what my issue is, feel free to email me and I will explain in detail musingsmail(at)gmail(dot)com.