Status: Real
Target.com
is was selling an upside-down Christmas tree for $499.99. (Thanks to Travis for the link--which has now gone dead, therefore I removed it) I'm not religious, but my first thought when seeing it was that it would be a perfect holiday decoration for a family of Satanists, to accompany their upside-down crosses and
crucified Santa. I know it's not a joke, or some mistake on Target's part, because
Hammacher Schlemmer is selling the same thing for $100 more. I understand these things are supposed to be space-savers, but why not save space by buying a smaller tree? I guess I just don't see the point, or appeal, of an upside-down tree. And why are they so ridiculously expensive?
Comments
Huh? Exactly what European tradition would that be? Maybe this IS traditional for Satanists, Alex.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/zestyping/97476.html
Come on, you KNOW that making that claim would get you on the TV news shows!
It represents new life and fertility (it's evergreen) in at a time of the year when most life is resting.
As for an upside-down Santa Clause? That would something a Pepsi drinker might worship. The 'traditional' red suited, white bearded santa was originally invented by the Coca Cola company as part of an advertising campaign.
"And Cranky, I think that you'd be the perfect person to pretend to be a right-wing Christian who thinks upside-down Christmas trees are a satanic thing."
Yes, that has crossed my mind, Alex. Especially since my last name is Pagani (Italian for the plural of "pagan").
Posted by Richard@Home
*buzzer sounds* incorrect!
A number of friends have since purchased one of these trees because it's not only unique but the ornaments don't get lost in the branches like on a "regular" tree.
Don't knock it til you've tried it.
from: http://users.rcn.com/tlclcms/santa.htm
"Believe it or not, the Coca-Cola company also contributed to the modern Santa Claus. Beginning in 1931 and for 35 years, Coke ran advertisements that featured a human-size Santa (not elf-size) drinking Coke. These ads contributed much to the modern image of Santa Claus (and the drinking of coke!)."
"The 'traditional' red suited, white bearded santa was originally invented by the Coca Cola company as part of an advertising campaign."
Richard@Home's revised comment
"Believe it or not, the Coca-Cola company also contributed to the modern Santa Claus. Beginning in 1931 and for 35 years, Coke ran advertisements that featured a human-size Santa (not elf-size) drinking Coke. These ads contributed much to the modern image of Santa Claus (and the drinking of coke!)."
uhhh, Richard, your first comment says Coca Cola inventedThe 'traditional' red suited, white bearded santa.
Your second comment more accurately states "These ads contributed much to the modern image of Santa Claus"
I dont dispute the contribution Cocal Cola made, I do dispute your original comment that they inventedthe traditional Claus
http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/santa.asp
*plugs buzzer back in*
Thomas Nast, the 19th century New York cartoonist who established the elephant and the donkey (guess which party he belonged to?) as symbols of the Republican and Democratic parties, is usually also credited with greatly popularizing the image of Santa as a jolly, round, bearded man with a white beard and a fur suit.
Christmas trees are usually described as having begun in Germany in the early-modern period. Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant Reformation, is frequently credited with starting this custom. Venerating certain trees was part of the practice of ancient Celts and other pre-Chrisitan societies in Europe, but I'm not aware of any evidence that those "pagans" used to decorate those trees in the manner of Christmas trees, or even that they cut trees to set them up inside their homes as anything at all similar to Christmas trees.
Christmas Trees are neither significant pagan nor biblical symbols. But various Christian traditions have evolved that use the evergreen and its decorations to symbolize and teach the wonderful truths of Advent - God sending His Son to bring eternal life to a fallen world. Though abused by popular culture, Christmas Trees may still point to that true Light of the World.
The Legend of the Origin of the Christmas Tree
Legend says that England's St. Boniface, who travelled to Germany to teach in the 7th Century A.D., was furious when he saw pagans revering an oak tree. He hacked it down, but when a fir tree sprang up on the spot, he decided to use the tree's triangular shape to describe the Trinity.
By the 12th Century, Central Europeans were hanging fir trees - upside down - from ceilings at Christmas.
Credit for the tradition of the decorated tree - right side up - generally goes to 16th century German theologian Martin Luther (1483-1546), who was inspired one Christmas Eve when he saw snow-dusted evergreen branches shimmering in the moonlight. Luther went home and set up a small fir tree for his children and adorned it with candles.
...Yep, just another device of someone tryin' to get more money from consumers, and detract even more from the true spirit of Christmas; revival of an "old" pagan tradition. .....Ecclesiastes 1: 9,10.....there is nothing new under the sun.....
...from that picture above, it looks more like a tornado than a tree. Don't we already have enough of those? Are people just so bored that they sit around and think of ways to turn things upside-down? If they'd read the Bible, they wouldn't get bored! (and wherever "Christmas trees" originally came from, it's clear that God has used them for His own purposes!) He can take anything and do with it whatever He wants to! The ones who try to turn everything "upside-down" surely must know they're only feebly attempting to defy the One who makes everything RIGHT, in the end!
"The ones who try to turn everything "upside-down" surely must know they're only feebly attempting to defy the One who makes everything RIGHT, in the end!"
Are you wearing any mixed-fiber clothing or do you own any such clothing? If so, get rid of it immediately. The Bible says you shouldn't wear mixed-fiber clothing.
You don't want to do anything that contradicts the Bible, right? Please report back when you have complied with this Scripture.
The same "purity codes" in the Bible that ban blended fibers (and homosexuality, by the way) also prohibit:
Cutting your hair or shaving.
Wearing any red garment.
Sowing two kinds of seeds in the same field.
Eating the hind quarters of an animal (e.g. ham, round, etc.)
Taking your hat off.
Eating any food that's been touched by a menstruating woman.
Touching a menstruating woman.
Etc.
However, selling your daughter into slavery is specifically permitted, and so is having several wives and a bunch of concubines.
The stuff those sections tell us we MUST do is even more interesting. As Brenda Durham says, if you read the Bible, you won't get bored.
Well, I've got to go sacrifice a red heifer now.
If the Bible is the inerrant word of God, then you HAVE to throw out your mixed fiber clothing right away if you want to call yourself a fundamentalist. All those cool 50/50 T-shirts you like to wear in the Summer? Buh-bye! You don't want to sin via your wardrobe, after all.
I think we can all agree on the "hating homos" part, though. Just kidding.
Have fun slaughtering the red heifer, Gary.
Of course I have Biblical answers to every post;(any fervent Christian does). Cranky, yours was quite interesting, but it's way too tempting to respond in like manner, so I'm leavin' it be. Might start a whole chain reaction that I don't have time for right now. (my dial-up is too slow; I'd be on this site all day if I kept talking!....I might visit the new forum that's being set up sometime if it's easier/faster...
Have fun and be blessed, all of y'all!!
At the Milwaukee Public Museum they have an outstanding exhibit called the "European Village" which features a variety of European homes from the 1700-1800s'. During the holiday season several times in the Polish home the Christmas tree is hung upside down from the ceiling. My grandmother who is of Polish decent has told me that this was a tradition in many Polish homes that was brought to America by many immigrants as late as the beginning of the 20th century. As the immigrants adapted to their new country, different traditions were adopted in the Christmas celebration, and this tradition, as best I can tell, has been long abandon, but indeed, it was a tradition that appears to have originated in the 12th century, according to the link above.
"The customs of the people are worthless, they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel, they adore it with silver and gold, they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter" (Jeremiah 10-3,4).
Christmas, as with other pagan holidays and rituals, were integrated into Christianity by early Romans/Catholics to spread the religion and make it easier for the people. It was a way to spread their power/influence by making the pagan's ways the "new" Christian ways.
There isn't very much about Christianity today that hasn't been touched by these methods and most believe it is how it has always been. Very few people actually do the research about their beliefs.
You're right about the Jeremiah scripture, in part. But it's best to remember that those trees couldn't have been actual "Christmas" trees since Christ had not yet been born! (Jeremiah is Old-testament). Setting up the trees was just a pagan way of setting up a "god" to worship; those people perhaps knew of God Himself, but did not personally know Him. He was perhaps still, to them, the UNKNOWN GOD mentioned in another Bible scripture. Jesus Christ's birth, death, and resurrection made God/Jesus Himself reachable, knowable, to all of us who want to know Him. Jeremiah 10:5 tells how their worship was vain because the tree could not move; it had to be carried, it could not speak; it was just a "thing" with no power of its own for either good nor evil. A true follower of Jesus Christ can take and use anything in creation for a Christian purpose, or can simply use it as a thing of simple pleasure, like a pretty Christmas tree. It is when non-believers try to use those things that their use/purposes are twisted and un-Godly!
Jeremiah 10:12 is telling everyone not to WORSHIP any tree; for trees, etc., are creations of God, they are not the Creator! All things aside, we are to seek the face of the God in Jeremiah 10: 10, 12, and 13.
I did get many verifications that the upside down tree is a real tradition.
Visit http://www.iarelative.com/xmas/upside.htm for more on this strange Christmas Tradition.
Greg Kopchak
It's All Relative
A P.S. to Tim:
I did get 10 verifications on the upside down tree last week. 7 of the 10 were from trusted sources.
Also check out
http://www.stcharleschristmas.com/christmashistory.htm
The Satanic thing must be from other God hating, satan worshipping, hate mongering liberals that think they are gods, trying to stir up dissention among those who know that if God didn't send his son to redeem our sins, we would wind up like the liberals as worms in the lake of fire with the fallen angel for eternity.
😝