Last Supper Butter Sculpture

When I wrote of the many faces of Jesus and how he is being used by many as a political tool, one of the more unexpected identities that popped up was Jesus as a butter sculpture. I looked more into this. It is a contribution to the Iowa State Fair of 1999 it seems by a butter sculptress called Norma Lyon. My hat to you ma'am!

Here's a little article on her.

Meat Nativity Scene

What am I thinking? It's Christmas time! I should be talking about Christmassy things! So let's get to it and celebrate first with this meat nativity scene. I have been holding this one in, saving it up for a special occasion, but I do believe the time is here. Feast your eyes my friends!

Also, I think I'll have to include this Christmas video from the Epic Meal Time show.

Chocolate Cross

So tonight, here in the Netherlands, we have a celebration thing, the night of Sinterklaas, comparable to Christmas eve. Saint Nicholas sends his black slaves down the chimneys to give presents to the children who have been good. It's racist and it instills fear in the hearts of many children. True tradition! So as part of this we have these chocolate letters (letters as in the letters of the alphabet). Usually you get the first letter of your name at the night of Sinterklaas. More than one letter if you're rich, no letters at all if you're poor, crappy faux-chocolate carob letters if your parents are spiritual and oblivious, in which case it can be doubted if you're getting anything during this Catholic festivity night, leaving you be the laughing stock the next day at school when everybody got an abundance of goodies and you got zilch. Again, true Dutch tradition, that brings out the best in our nation. Anyway, I saw a chocolate character sign (the '&') fly by and I never really thought of any chocolate symbolic renditions beyond the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet. But then what symbol did come to my mind? Why the cross of course. Could there be? Of course there was!

Our Daily Bread Plates

You know folks, it's sorta ironic. Since last month I started a Master's in study of religion, devoting all my time to looking at religious kitsch, and as a result of this, I hardly have time anymore to update my reli-kitsch blog. I'll try and fight it, but I do think I'll have to cut down on frequency a bit. Oh well, so it is. Es muss sein. I think I'll try and average at four posts a week in stead of six.

So enough reflective pondering. Let's talk about good stuff. Like eating your daily bread. Where to put that bread? Why on a fancy daily bread plate of course!

Baby Jesus

Oh the glory you find when you look for Jesus! Especially when you look for baby Jesus on Google. Now from this universe I can only select a few planets, nay, stars! There are a lot of styles and moreover, a lot of illustrations are actually of Jesus and Mary, a different but no less marvelous story in pictures. I'll stick to to Jesus though. I love the more romantic illustrations, although the screwed up home made renditions of baby Jesus that even in His eternal love I can't imagine would be appreciated are just as fantastic too of course.

 Looks like baby Jesus had a Flintstones twitter account.

 Extra points for the hyperactive faux framing.

 This one reminds me of the art work of Anne Geddes.

 "I think my Dad is just fááábulous!"

 This looks like a job for... Burrito Jesus!

 And Burrito Jesus on a cake.

Homemade Nativity Scenes

Actually this was supposed to be about cute nativity scenes, but I'll pick that up later, because this seemed more fun actually. So I think it is a yearly tradition to gather round and get creative in the name of the Lord and fabricate a rendition of the nativity scene. Some actually do a pretty good job at this. Boring! The half-assed ones using unlikely means that produce a rendition so abstract it makes you wonder what it was supposed to be in the first place are obviously the more enjoyable ones.

 Jesus is a flowerhead now?

 No wait, Jesus is a fried egg!

 Nothing but a wow here!

 Another Jesus flowerhead.

Back in the box you go! Don't deny that you think Jesus looks like a spliff in this one!

 The three kings sort of look like they are related to Jabba de Hutt.

Quaker Oats

First of all, I must confess that this post is a bit far fetched. Initially I wanted to show some pictures of Quaker families. I looked for Quaker families and I found them. Didn’t make me laugh. So they wear some strange clothes. Big deal! Don’t we all? Coming from the Netherlands myself, home of Volendamse klederdracht and currently a colony of Hennes & Mauritz, I don’t feel like I have a right to act as fashion police anyway. We’ve sort of lost our credibility in this respect a long time ago, if we actually ever had any to begin with.
        So what can I say about the Religious Society of Friends, more popularly known as the Quakers? Prominent figure of the Quaker religion, George Fox, seemed to have been... an extravagant figure to say the least. In the words of William James, “from the point of view of his nervous constitution, Fox was a psychopath or detraquee of the deepest dye.” (James, p. 15). Nice one, Bill! I love the story too that, in James’ book, is being recounted, where Fox takes his shoes off in the dead of winter, leaves them with some shepherds, goes into the city of Lichfield, runs about the market there crying “Wo to the bloody city of Lichfield!”, returns to the shepherds to pick up his shoes again, but doesn’t put them on because “the fire of the Lord was so on my feet.” (ibid). Prophet or “a mere lonely madman?” (James, p. 249). Who is to say? 
        One thing the Quakers are probably most known for is the brand of breakfast cereals it is associated with. Now, the fact that a cereal brand is associated with a religious movement might be less arbitrary than it seems. Kellogg’s corn flakes for example were invented by John Harvey Kellogg, who was a partner in Ellen White’s venture to build “a sanatorium/hospital that was the first of the many Adventist medical facilities that now operate in the United States and around the world.” (Moore, p. 142). In fact, “Kellogg invented granola and also a flaked wheat cereal that he patented and offered to White as a way to finance the church.” (ibid).
        Is there a similar story in the case of Quaker Oats? Actually no. There is a tie with religion, but it runs the other way around. It seems the brand adapted the image of the Quaker because "Quaker Mill partner Henry Seymour found an encyclopedia article on Quakers and decided that the qualities described — integrity, honesty, purity — provided an appropriate identity for his company's oat product”, according to wikipedia. So why am I saying all this then? Just to downplay the fact that the images in this post really have jack all to do with religion. But by Job and Jehovah are the Quaker Oats ads ever fantastic!

Some of these images I got from another website that is absolutely great, http://www.jonwilliamson.com/, that has a vast collection of vintage advertising.


Sources:
- William James. The Varieties of Religious Experience. A Study in Human Nature. Arc Manor. Rockville, Maryland, 2008. (First published: 1902).
- R. Laurence Moore. Selling God. American Religion in the Marketplace of Culture. Oxford University Press. New York, 1994.

Dieting Book: More of Jesus, Less of Me

Dieting With Jesus

Food and faith are a favorite pair. Besides edible expressions of devotion, dietary laws and religion seem to get along fine too. This beyond the point of Halal and Kosher food where the dietary craze of modern times seems to have found an ally in religion.

This will be the first of many entries on the subject. The one I feature here actually sort of goes against the style of this blog because it clearly is a parody, of both Christ and diet, but it's a nice one to open the gates with. I liked the title especially.

This magnet set can be ordered from the BlueQ website.

Jesus cakes

 (there is just no escaping Sallman)

Some of these images I got off the blog catholicicing.blogspot.com. I am obviously an instant fan!

Bible Cakes

Psalm 119:103 praises the Word of God and reads "How sweet are your words to my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" ... Certainly true in the case of Bible cakes!

Interestingly enough, there seems to be a pattern to these cakes. On the one page there is a passage from scripture, and then on the other page there is a more secular "happy birthday James" type text, sometimes with an image. There also seem to be a lot of first communion celebratory cakes out there. I have to say the one with the Jesus depiction on it really ummm... takes the cake (sorry).