Christmas is over, since more than a month - so, what does this huge Christmas tree next to the Messeturm in Frankfurt do?Well, after Christmas is before Christmas, and in the last week of January it is time for Christmas World, "presenting the latest party and festive decorating trends and innovations".
After I moved to Frankfurt, I couldn't make sense out of the Christmas lighting that was switched on again at the fairground end of Januay, until I figured out by chance there is this special event. It seems if you're in the Christmas business, you can relax for a week or so after the holidays - but then, you have to prepare for the new season. If I think about this, it's just natural that we can get chocolate Santas and gingerbread and all the other Christmas goodies in the supermarkets starting around the end of August, at the latest.
This morning I could see how the tree was dismantled: Lots of plastic, mounted on a cone-shaped scaffolding. So, it's as artifical as this whole Christmas industry.
1) Christ died for your sins.
ReplyDelete2) If you do not sin, then Christ died in vain.
3) Get on with it.
Uncle Al signed a contract with the Devil to torture missionaries for eternity in Hell. All the proximate pressure is off. Visit! Look for the lower level manager with ice in his drink.
And so this is Christmas
ReplyDeleteFor weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
~ John Lennon
Uncle Al forgot:
ReplyDelete0) You have already sinned (the original sin)
I remember feeling low
ReplyDeleteI remember losing hope
I remember all the feelings
And the day they stopped
We are,
We are all innocent, we are all innocent
We are, we are, we are
We are all innocent, we are all innocent
~ Our Lady Peace
0) You have already sinned (the original sin)
ReplyDeleteInsane, stupid, amusing.
Jews, Christians, Muslims.
Each was alloted two of three.
One perceives Christians are bitter for not being amusing, re their Inquisition, their Crusades, and Northern Ireland. Jews are a giggle, Muslims are a whole ten-in-one. (Hindus have 30 crores of gods - 300 million deities. Imagine carrying around the dead tree addition list - presumably with Yahweh penciled in at the end.)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/religion.htm
Grok religion.
Hi Stefan,
ReplyDeleteNow that does not look like a tree of any description, let alone one of the Xmas species. I thought you were going to announce they discovered a mysterious conical monolith in one of the Messenger flyby photos, something like that Martian face that had all the wackos humming for so long :-)
Best,
Phil
Hi Bee,
ReplyDeleteI see you’re a Lennon fan, I as well. Might I ask as how you were introduced to his music? I’m curious since you were only born a few years after his senseless death. I’m fairly certain you wouldn’t have seen him at the Bruno Koschider’s Indra Club or the Star-Club in Hamburg in the very early sixties. I remember him best for his and Yoko Bed-in for peace in Montreal (protest against the Veitnam War). I won’t reveal however how old I was :-)
Best,
Phil
Hi Phil:
ReplyDeleteI can't say I was 'introduced' to any kind of music. I am a random radio station jumper, whenever somebody talks for more than 10 seconds I chose a different station, that way I get to hear a lot of different things (it drives my husband nuts though).
Lennon, can't quite recall, 'War is over' I probably knew before I spoke English. Give Peace a Chance came back '90/'91 first Gulf war and the Yugoslav war. The latter might not have played such a big role in North America, but it did in Europe. A lot of refugees sought asylum in Germany. The city where I grew up happened to have the first entry center for the refugees arriving at the Frankfurt airport (Erstaufnahme Unterkunft), meaning, almost everybody who arrived there had to go through that small town before being distributed elsewhere (and most arrived at the airport since there was at least then a law that if they crossed border from another intermediate European country, Germany could refuse to accept them). As a result the schools had to cope with many children that knew all along they wouldn't stay, and most often didn't even want to be in Germany, etc. Also, the Yugoslavs typically didn't get along to well with the Turks. The only thing we all had in common was that we found war to be a bad idea. So, there Lennon came in. Best,
B.