[TheForge] How blacksmiths contributed to Christmas-Semi-OT, not necessarily sane

[Saint Phlip]

http://www.wessexscene.co.uk/article.php?sid=1919


All you ever needed to know about Christmas
Thursday, 4 January, 2007


 The origins of the festival we today call 'xmas' are often overlooked
in our consumer-driven materialistic society. A youth in 2006 is more
likely to send a text message to his friend or wear a hooded top than
delve into the holiday's fascinating history. Aside from the presents
and the food and the religion lies an astonishing story.


It all starts in the pre-war Balkans. In an effort to raise awareness
of blacksmithery accidents, 'Kris Tomas Day' was set aside to be
celebrated annually at a randomly selected time during the year, by
the Slovakian Government. Named after Kris Tomas who fell in his kiln
in August 1917, the day was the highlight of the year for the
burgeoning Slovakian blacksmith community.

Despite years of complaints by the SAKAGBAM (Slovakians Against Kiln
and General Blacksmithery Apparatus Misuse), which felt that the
random nature of the day lessened the impact of the important safety
message, the day was only changed to 25 December in 1922, after the
random number generating system used to select the day was stolen by
Slovenian terrorists.

In 1926, world champion unicyclist Pablo Nerando spread the message of
Kris Tomas day after losing his brother to a gangrenous horse-shoe
burn. Adopted by his native Peruvian Government in the same year, the
festival grew in popularity so quickly that by the early 1930's most
of South America celebrated Kris Tomas Day on 25 December in some
form, and the message spread across the globe. By 1940, an estimated
two-thirds of the world had celebrated or had heard of Kris T'mas Day
(now shortened to fit on cakes and banners). The name was changed to
Christmas Day in 1942 as the letter K was considered distasteful by
many prominent members of the Catholic church.

In 1946, visionary director Frank Capra directed the Christmas
masterpiece It's a Wonderful Life. Originally a depression-era suicide
piece, an opium-fuelled frenzy one night led the legendary director to
rewrite the film entirely, being told by "floating crazy mushroom men
who spoke in clouds" to take the existing Christmas festival and add
'their' own surreal touches to create a bizarre and nightmarish
mish-mash of tacky decorations and bloated consumerism. In this
dreamlike vision, a fat man with a white beard named Santa Claus would
bring garishly wrapped presents in his flying sleigh carried by magic
deer, while the house would be decorated with a single fir tree
covered in shiny plastic objects. In a list stretching to some
two-hundred-and-twenty-six items, Capra mapped out what would become
the modern version of Christmas.

Worried about the film's reception among a conservative post-war
audience, MGM studios in co-operation with Walmart, who saw profit in
the now greed-orientated festival, initiated a secret subliminal
messaging campaign which aimed to fool a nation (America) into
believing Christmas had already existed for hundreds of years.
Thousands of adverts and pop songs (including the Biff Stevenson and
the Molly Sisters' 1950 smash The Go-around Bop) included a message on
repeat which can be heard when the record is played at half speed.
"Christmas has always existed, go and see It's a Wonderful Life to get
a rough idea of what it's about" read by Orson Welles, it is clearly
audible in many cases. The American government allowed what they felt
would be a morale boosting campaign after the troubles of the Second
World War. A resounding success, within months the American nation was
convinced that Christmas had been celebrated for hundreds of years,
while retailers recorded all time high profits for December, and
record numbers of returns for January.

In the fifty years since, film classics such as The Santa Clause
starring Tim Allen and Home Alone with Macaulay Caulkin have been used
to similar affect, and coupled with the introduction of the new
Christmas message being taught in schools, the festival has overtaken
even Shrove Tuesday in popularity. The addition of Christmas Eve and
Boxing Day in 1976 to heighten mince pie sales during the famous mince
pie recession was another resounding success. The Pope's decision to
move the celebration of Jesus' birthday to coincide with the period
also fell seamlessly into the ever expanding Christmas convention.

The Christmas we celebrate today is no more traditional than other
fake festivals such as Mother's Day and Thanksgiving, but is
nevertheless one of our most cherished times of year. This year, take
a moment to remember what's really important about Christmas, not the
presents or food, but that clumsy Slovakian blacksmith who in his
death, made the world a better place. Merry Christmas one and all.

Jack Arnott


--
Saint Phlip

Heat it up
Hit it hard
Repent as necessary.

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

Psalm 146
King James Bible


-- 
Saint Phlip

Heat it up
Hit it hard
Repent as necessary.

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

Psalm 146
King James Bible