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Ooh - the owners of an East 18th Street Manhattan brownstone are under fire for their wacky Christmas display. The Post puts the Krupnik-Castellanos display - "a skinny, bloody-bearded Santa holds a knife in his left hand and the severed head of a doll - blood gushing from its eye sockets in the other" - on its cover. The owners, Joel Krupnik and Mildred Castellanos, explain its their protest against Christmas's commercialization. Well, it's not Dyker Heights, that's for sure! But people in the neighborhood are pretty upset, with some neighbors chasing Castellanos and others imploring the police to do something (they can't). Plus the little kids are scared. Gothamist thinks this is kind of great, if grisly; we'd like Krupnik and Castellanos put up decorations year round... maybe a strung out Valentine's Cupid, depressed Leprauchan, drunken Easter Bunny... the possibilities are endless.
And in other residential Christmas decorating news, a resident at one of Trump's West Side condos had her request to put up a nativity scene in the lobby rejected. She argued that the nativity scene was similar to a menorah, but she was told a menorah is secular. What, a tree isn't good enough to welcome the spirit of Christ the Lord? And we only see the baby Jesus at churches or malls. Maybe she can move to the Time Warner Center and put one other there.
Related: The movies Bad Santa, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and A Christmas Story.
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Since when is a menorah secular?
Heh heh!
I live down the street from this place. It is a year round treat. The house is decorated with gargoyles and faces representing the 7 deadly sins. I encourage you to check it out.
Jose - you took the words out of my mouth. If it's secular, why does it only go up during the span of a religious holiday?
It is a sad state of affairs when people have to spoil a holiday for others, esp children. I dont see the need for a hanging santa, there are other ways to protest commercialization of christmas as in dont buy any presents! for shame on them for doing this.
ok the article states:
"In another touch of Christmas jeer, the Santa dummy is standing behind a tree whose bare branches are adorned with beheaded Barbie dolls."
What does that have to say about the commercialization of christmas? I better idea would be a Santa with bad credit, another mortgage or a bankrupt santa. I dont see the correlation between a bloody santa and commericalization. The couple in question are nonpracticing jews to. Hmm how ocme no chanukah
commericaliztion display?
What happened to feedom of religion? Why is it so bad to have a nativity scene? And by the way a secular menorah is called a candelabra.
As for the gory Santa, it says nothing about commerialization... it seems they are cranky and bitter people who enjoy cheap shock value for the attention.
I love this city but what has happened to the people who live here? It seems like everyone is looking for a reason to start a "dialogue"/fight about anything and everything. Why is everyone so angry? Why is everyone so sensitive?
i used to live on this block. that house has some funky stuff on it. and i went to visit my friends who still live at my old apt and passed by this santa. i found amusing. there also crazy things in the windows as well. whatever happened to putting nice lights and a fake reindeer out front?
The only thing these people are guilty of is pathetic mediocrity. "Ooooh, look how obscure and avant garde we are! We're taking a traditionally joyous figure and putting blood on it, how original." Fucking poseurs. I wish they would be really edgy for the holidays and engage in a murder-suicide pact with a double barrel shotgun.
You neglect to mention that the resident of the Trump building is Jewish and was suggesting it in the spirit of equal time. Am I the only one that finds this really striking? Is it me or are we losing track of the big picture and getting bogged down by irrelevant details (Merry Christmas v. Happy Holidays?)
A menorah is only "secular" when people want to use it to keep a nativity scene or any other outwardly Christian symbol out of the public square. usually those people aren't religious in anyway, christian, jewish, or other)