Christmas Town

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Agreed, the actual religious references at Christmas Town are rather minimal. For full disclosure, I am Christian so I may be biased in saying this, but I feel like most of the event is more of a "generic" Christmas theme with much more of a "Happy Holidays" vibe than a "Praise Jesus!" vibe.

Trust me, I certainly find the religious references inspirational and subtle enough that I appreciate the impact they have, but even I go batty after hearing "Hark! The Harold Angels Sing!" for the six-bajillionth time in a month, and I don't think Christmas Town goes too over-the-top in that regard. Outside of Gloria, the Nativity scene in San Marco, and a few angel decorations, there aren't many direct Christian references. The rest of the event leans more toward the "commercial" side of Christmas (the "spirit of giving," world peace, Santa, etc.) but they are done so with a certain amount of class and charm. The music, lights, and... I don't know, winter cheer(?), are all very well-done. I think Christmas Town does a very good job of creating a classy and beautiful event, that can appeal to everyone.

There are some more "commercial" areas (Holiday Hills, for example) but I guess they're all in good cheer, so to speak. I guess arguing that BGW doesn't fall prey to commercialism is a completely different argument that I won't go into. However, I have still visited with a few non-religious friends who have still had a great time at the event. The lights and decorations are enough attraction on their own. If you want a religious experience, that's what churches are for, and I think BGW recognizes that. I know for sure that I don't go to Christmas Town for the religious aspects.

As for the 'cold' aspect, there's only one true solution to that... :p
 
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I'm not a particularly religious person, more of a deist than anything, if I had to lazily define my scattered beliefs and feelings regarding the Almighty. I'm also an artist and a lover of art, which certainly requires me to tolerate religion and religious display, since at least 75 percent of world art was made in the service of one religion or another. The thing I can't tolerate is modern commercialized Christmas, with leering Santas, anachronistic celebrations of sleigh bells (how many Americans ride through the snow on horse-drawn sleighs?) and chestnuts (the Chestnut Blight wiped out most of America's chestnut trees in the early 20th century), and insincere, sweatery exhortations to cuddle up with beloved family (most of my family is psychotic, hates each other, or is dead). And, of course, the constant, deafening chorus, beginning in September, that reminds us to SPEND SPEND SPEND!

I do like cold weather, beautiful lights and good food and drink shared with friends, so if Christmas Town can offer that, with a minimal quantity of the other stuff, then I support it.
 
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For people undecided on CT...
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It really is a magical event that every one should try to do once in there lifetime.
 
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I would like respectfully to disagree with those of you who claim that CT isn't very religious. More so than ever in the past, I was struck last year by all of the religious imagery. I think it has become more pronounced.

That said, I still enjoyed the park.
 
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I'd like to disagree with you, some of my friends who are, and aren't religious, are still figuring out there is a religious aspect to CT, only by me telling them that there is.
 
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No, my non-religious friends still didn't recognize any Religious imagery before I pointed it out to them.

Gloria is in a theatre, and you choose to go see it. Unless somehow the sign seems too religious?
 
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Isn't Christmas, you know, still sort of a religious holiday? I understand non-religious and non-Christian's objections to overt religious display, but as a private park, isn't Busch Gardens simply catering to the majority of its audience?
 
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I for one have always thought that the park does a rather splendid job of keeping religion at Christmas Town out of guests' faces, especially when you take into account that we're in south-eastern Virginia. San Marco is a blatantly religious hamlet during Christmas Town, but it's in between a hamlet themed to the over-commercialization of Christmas (Holiday Hills), a polar-themed hamlet (Pompeii), and a hamlet that's essentially themed a secular holiday party (Oktoberfest). Yes, the park has a religious Christmas-themed hamlet, but again, this is Virginia. If the park didn't do that, people would riot in the streets. I don't think anyone can claim that Christmas Town doesn't have its share of religious touches, but I personally believe BGW has always done an impressive job keeping it balanced. I see far more Christmas-related religious theming walking through a department store in December than I do at Christmas Town.
 
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Nicole said:
Maybe Christians don't notice it as much?
Click to expand...

I think this is a fair point. With Christian references being most familiar to me, perhaps they do not stand out to me as much and just kind of flow with the rest of the event. Obviously the reason I am not bothered by things like the Nativity scene are because they agree with my religion. I can certainly see how for those with different religious views, this could be bothersome. For instance, if I visited some Hindu-themed event I would probably pick up on every single reference to the religion and have a distaste for all of them. I'm certainly not going to pull the "just ignore it" card because what is subtle to me, may come off as disagreeable and even downright annoying to someone else.

I think it comes down to the basic logistics of the event. I remember an interview with Gasparich saying that although Christmas Town isn't meant to be a predominately religious event, they would still insert religious references where appropriate. So the question is, does the park want an actual Christmas-themed event or just a holiday-themed event. I'm not saying one is right or wrong, but each is going to appeal more to one group than the other.
 
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Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. They are inserting religious tones just by calling it 'Christmas town'. If they wanted to ignore the religious aspect of it, they would have named it 'Happy Holiday Town' or something otherwise generic. I have to agree with Nicole. Last year had an 'in your face' Christian feel to it.
 
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I'd just like to mention that the park's goal is to "amplify the theme of each country" during CT. Europe is where Christianity really grew it's roots deeper, and so any religious aspect, like the angel theme in San Marco is not necessarily wrong to have based on what the park committed to for it's theme during CT.

I'd honestly say excluding the nativity scene, San Marco isn't very religious. One thing that has always struck me about Miracles is that even though it's supposed to be about angels, the show and San Marco focuses on world unity and peace rather than religion. Maybe some of you are perceiving it in a way it wasn't meant to be?
 
This sort of comes back to the whole sensitivities issue that arose with the severed heads at Howl-O-Scream. Just seeing scattered religious-type decor shouldn't bother a rational, reasonable person. And the park does seem to offer non-religious shows at Christmas Town, so I don't see a huge problem.

BUT, I've never been there so I'll take other people's word for it. It would seem very odd for a fairly high-profile park like Busch Gardens to make their winter solstice celebration into a big religious event.
 
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