Nov 30 2006
Scary Christmas
A couple of years ago I pointed out a really scary Easter Bunny that was part of the Easter decorations in the building where I work. Well, it seems the diabolical decorators have resurfaced, but at a different venue. Check out the holiday decor that adorns Place Bonaventure:
Wow! That’s just plain weird! Talk about nightmares for the kiddies!
On the other hand, given the amount of annoyingly sweet holiday pablum that is shoveled at us this time of year, I kind of like this stuff. Bring on the anti-Christmas, the hexed holidays. Good ol’ Satanic Nick, staring down from above, watching you fake your way through the phony holiday levity and crushingly insincere good cheer when in fact you just want to scream and rip some elf’s head off.
There are about a dozen of these things hanging from the ceiling, with a creepy face on either side so you see them no matter which direction you’re walking.
The centerpiece looks suitably lurid with that crazy ice-blue background:
Ooooh, that makes me wanna shop. It’s going to be a crazy Christmas!
6 Comments on “Scary Christmas”
It is a bit stange but I salute their attempt to be a different… :)
I believe it is a subtle nod to the needle-nosed Robert Bourassa, recently reincarnated as a street and cause for celebration amongst some of our citizenry. Some might call it an early Christmas gift for those that are occupied by such folly. His profile is/was not unlike the distinct phallic-nosed mask of Il Capitano, a stock character from Commedia dell’Arte, a passion of Europe’s elite during the Renaissance. This stuff was definitely not for children unless you consider it’s watered-down derivitive, Punch & Judy which still wasn’t very Christmas-like in it’s message.
Good eye, Harry. It is very much like the Venetian carnival masks — in particular the “Pantelone” style (Pantelone was another character from the Commedia dell’Arte). Actually, there are a bunch of long nosed styles, so who knows which this is modeled after. Pretty freaky as a holiday decoration though. But the more I think about it the more I like it.
and yet the total effect is that you’re in a drag queen’s apartment on Oscar night… :-)
It’s true that all those long nose Commedia dell’Arte masks are hard to differentiate. And it seems like every source slightly changes their version of el Dottore or Pantalone. I acutally thought it was Zanni when I first saw the photo!
Acutally, it all looks like a Mardi Gras Christmas to me!