Patchogue Christmas Tree and Nativity Lighting Ceremony
Article by Phil Butler
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The Knights of Columbus Council 725 hosted the second annual Christmas Tree and Nativity lighting ceremony, on Saturday November 29, 2008 at the Roe Family Main Street property, in Patchogue, NY.
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The K of C also had over twenty two, Fourth Degree Knights, in their honor guard regalia, participate in the Christmas Parade, along with forty regular members. The K of C group was the largest group in the Christmas Parade.
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The display Christmas Tree at forty feet, is the largest decorated tree in all of Suffolk County. The Nativity display consists of fifteen beautiful figurines, surrounding the Holy Family and Manger.
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As originally announced, people were encouraged to bring their family, to enjoy the old fashioned lighting ceremony, which was complemented by nationally renowned performers.
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"This Christmas program is for our children and grandchildren to enjoy just as we did when we were young."
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The Christian Contemporary Groups that entertained were as follows:
Redeemers Cross 1:00pm to 2:00pm
True Witness 2:15 pm to 3:15
Jeremy Sears Band 3:30 to 4:30
Beyond The Veil 4:45 to 6:00
David Klinkenberg 6:00 to 7:00
Ginny Owens 7:00 to 8:00
Beyond The Veil Encore 8:15 to 10:00
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Merry Christmas!
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Philip Butler
Christmas 'n Patchogue Committee
631 576-9817

Comments from a Patchogue Theatre volunteer:

I enjoy your blog and only wish you'd include some listings about whats going on at the Patchogue Theatre. We who volunteer there could use a lot of help to get the word out on our upcoming shows.

Thanks,

www.patchoguetheatre.com

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Comment from Anonymous:

Look the parade is on Nov 23 and a week prior to the traditional parade that the Village does call the Christmas Parade. Why can't we recognize that there is a holiday season and that the decorations such as Snowmen and Reindeer are really secularized symbols anyway and while casually associated with the season are not really religious symbols. The Grucci offer of Fireworks had strings attached from the beginning and was designed to create an issue that is making the village look bad and hurting our merchants.

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Comment from the editor:

Yes I do agree! The offer to provide Fireworks if the name of the Boat Parade is changed to the Christmas Boat Parade, does indeed represent a conditional offer. The offer was made publicly, and was approved by the committee that organized the Boat Parade. Why is it that the phrase “had strings attached from the beginning,” sounds so sinister?

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The phrase “was designed to create an issue that would make the village look bad,” is reckless and irresponsible! Your phrase implies premeditation, and could be considered by some as libelous. There simply is no evidence to support that allegation.

Comment:

I started browsing your archives, and of course the debacle of the whole Boat Parade Holiday/Christmas name game is mentioned. (Hey, it’s on my blog too…. http://cheapdateli.wordpress.com ) I’m going to make a mention of it and what truly bothers me about the whole thing, if that’s ok. I see that many people are up in arms over the Christ being taken out of Christmas, and the crass commercialization of this holiday. I have no problem with Christmas (the crass commercialization, however, I do…), but let me explain my point of view of embracing the term “holiday”. Right now, we are celebrating Christmas, New Year’s, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah; Diwali and Ramadan were not long ago either. I minored in theology for my first degree…I’m a spiritual person who believes in Jesus, so I’m not some liberal who is trying to whitewash and one size fits all. However, I must point out that most of my friends are NOT Catholic/Christian. I have Jewish friends, Muslim friends, Buddhists, you name it. I don’t discriminate. I put up my “Christmas branch”, while my friends light menorahs, candles, and lanterns. To me, pushing Christmas as if it is the ONLY celebration worth noting is a supremacist notion. The people who refuse to acknowledge the religions of others are going against the teachings of their own religion and practicing bigotry. Of course, they won’t see it that way, but it is the case. One of my friends, who knows how strongly I feel about this topic even printed me a little cartoon with all the icons of all the major holidays that states “Happy Everything”. The fact is that no matter what your religion, your culture, this is a time we should all come together as one and celebrate what this time of year should really represent, which is love. It’s not the fact that we’re trying to squeeze the Christ out of Christmas…we’re trying to make sure that all the people we care about get included in the merry fray! Think about it…how would you feel if you were married to someone from India , and their family refused to acknowledge your holiday—in fact, acted as if it didn’t exist at all? That Diwali was all that you could acknowledge… I forgot which religious figure said it, but I thought he summed it up nicely: “The world’s religions are all different paths to the same God.”

Christine E. Rudkowski

Note:

The second article below this one has addition commentary on this issue, that should also be considered.

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