Note the absence of "Christmas" colors because really, isn’t there enough red in our lives right now? So I present one of the many lovely sights at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden around the holidays. Sights designed to wow everyone and alienate no one. Light shows at public gardens are great that way.
Here’s wishing all your winters are bright and holidays even brighter.
{ 4 comments }
Happy Holidays Susan! I hope to see you when you come to Los Angeles.
SHirley
Those are beautiful, Susan. Merry Christmas!
BrrRRRrrrr. Looks rather cold to me! With freezing temperatures I tend to shun blue and turn to warmer colours.
Is it really possible to not alieniate anyone? Don’t we get another kind of alienation when we remove public religious and celebrating signs because someone can be offended? I think the key is to give more religions and celebrations access to public spaces using specific decours for ramadan, kwanzaa, chanukka etc.
Might sound as a picky comment, but our love for nonreligious (if you can call it that) and nonfestive decorations have paved the way for much more serious repression of religions, not only islam (who currently gets the biggest boot) but also christianity, judaism etc.
Hello Susan and I hope you enjoyed LGBG! I happen to know personally that they strive to be secular in this time when everyone is taught Santa Claus is the reason for the greed–erm, season. Their aim is to accentuate the natural beauty and wonder of their garden with the change of the season. (Gardeners are usually very appreciative of the natural world as their reason d’etre is rooted in the seasons–sorry for the pun.)
Thank you Susan for recognizing and appreciating this simple celebration of our natural world.
To the indoor “gardener” that posted prior:
As an atheist, your whole argument seems silly. I liked the lights because they were beautiful. I appreciated the blues and whites as a representation of the ice and snow of the natural season–their theme was “Winter’s Beautiful Web.” I doubt you cared to find that out before whining about your specific religion not being “included” with someone’s silly representation of your religion. What if you didn’t like the colors they chose for yours? Maybe you didn’t pray hard enough.
What on earth do you mean by “if you can call it that” anyway? Not all decorations are religious (though I would wager most decorations aim to be festive), not all people crawl back to some ancient story to be able to relate to what’s in front of their face, and not all things must accord themselves your specific viewpoint. Get over yourself.
Enjoy the lights, smile at your fellow humans, and keep your religion to yourself and your garden.
Comments on this entry are closed.