Holi discussion.

[l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no]

>        On Thu, 8 Feb 1996, Vidhyanath K. Rao wrote:
>> As I read the heated discussion on Holi, a question crossed my mind:
>> Is it usual or correct to describe the "Christmas Party atmosphere"
>> as a reenactment of the chaos that preceded the birth of the Savior?
>> -Nath

 Moving from popular regional literature to popular history, J.M.
>Golby and A.W. Purdue in -The Making of the Modern Christmas- (Athens, GA:
>University of Georgia Press, 1986) offer a fairly long menu of similar
>fare:  "Thus we find St Gregory Nazianzen, who died in AD 389, warning his
>flock against '...feasting to excess, dancing and crowning the doors' and
>urging 'the celebration of the festival after an heavenly and not after an
>earthly manner'.  Many a priest, prelate or minister has preached to his
>congregation in similar vein, from AD 389 to AD 1986.  The 'gross'
>elements of Christmas -- gluttony, drunkenness and the challenge to public
>order and discipline represented by indecent plays, the reversal of social
>roles and dressing up as the oppositve sex or as animals -- all became the
>standard targets of austere and reformist prelates."

Not only did the Christian theologians have problems with this boisterous
time of the year. The Roman philopher Seneca tried to remain aloof from all
the hullaboloo and urged all other sensible people to do the same, and
Pliny the younger even built a sound-proof room where he could spend the
Saturnalia without being disturbed by the noise and feasting outside. Why
are intellectuals such wet blankets?

Lars Martin Fosse



Lars Martin Fosse
Research Fellow
Department of East European
and Oriental Studies
P. O. Box 1030, Blindern
N-0315 OSLO Norway

Tel: +47 22 85 68 48
Fax: +47 22 85 41 40

E-mail: l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no