Christmas Decorations at the Kingdom hall (page 2)

TonusOH

Chevelle: In the 70s and 80s, we had our circuit assemblies in a Jewish Synagogue in New York City.

In Manhattan, right? I went to that one a bunch of times for two-day weekend conventions.

As for a fancy-looking KH, I missed out. The ones I went to were quite basic in design and decoration. Fully functional and had all of the necessary accommodations and features, but the layout was very simple and the colors were mostly earth-tones and wood paneling. It was drab and lifeless. No wonder meetings seemed so interminable.

Gorb

Same here, in the 70's we had a rent hall from Odd Fellows with christmas tree.

G.

Simon

there was another family moved down from Irlam. I got to know them well, even working for the bro one winter.

I think I know who you mean, I can't remember the names off-hand, and don't really remember them that well - I think I got introduced the odd time they came up for a visit and was probably quite young when they had originally left.

road to nowhere

A 3rd or 4th cousin of my dad had money and owned a building with a meeting hall over it. She let the JW s ( she was one) use it. But she also had a New Years party there every year. Chart, text, and whistles mixed Dad wouldn't go. I sure miss her and that part of childhood. It was a 40 mile trip up there, big meals ( Thanksgiving), a mansion to explore, long drives into mountains, a chance to plink with .22s.

Many times we cleaned an armory after new years for the two and half day assembly. Thats where I spotted my wife.

dozy

Back in the day three day elder and MS schools were usually held just after Christmas or New Year ( for all I know they still are).

Anyway - ours was scheduled for 26th and 27th Dec and was located in a hotel with a large function room and we arrived to find it totally festooned with Christmas decorations. There was some rather heated discussions going on with the rather skeleton holiday hotel staff. As somewhat of a token gesture , a large inflatable Santa and reindeer were eventually wheeled out (to a few ironic claps) , but the rest of the decorations stayed - including a massive Christmas tree. it was a very large and high room and logistically it would have been impossible to remove everything - and the hotel staff just weren't having it - you could hear them quite rightly saying that no request had been made in advance to remove the decorations.

So we had the rather surreal setting of a two day elders meeting discussing the importance of "following theocratic order" held with lots of Christmas bunting and supposed "pagan" symbols everywhere. I was already somewhat PIMO and looking back , the hypocrisy and irony of the situation was just another stage in the awakening process. It was the last elders school I ever attended.

WingCommander

@dozy:

The real irony comes from the fact that JW's were still celebrating Xmas up into the 20's, even at Bethel! There's even a Bethel Xmas Card photo shot.

Thing is, I'm sure most of you didn't know about it back then. But it would have made interesting commentary as to why you all shouldn't feel guilty.

TonusOH

As I understand it, the Xmas at the WTS HQ picture was kept quiet until Ray Franz mentioned it (and showed it) in CoC. Then the society made mention of the early days, when they celebrated Xmas, and also showed the picture. I wonder if it would have ever been mentioned, had Franz not done so. My guess is no.

peacefulpete

In the 70's we built a KH (now sold off and congregation dissolved). Paper wall murals were popular so Dad picked one of a park scene for the wall behind the podium. After it was pasted up we noticed a nun dead center in the background! Dad refused to admit it and it stayed there for decades. It was a little inside joke.

Beth Sarim

""As I understand it, the Xmas at the WTS HQ picture was kept quiet until Ray Franz mentioned it (and showed it) in CoC. Then the society made mention of the early days, when they celebrated Xmas, and also showed the picture. I wonder if it would have ever been mentioned, had Franz not done so. My guess is no.""

My guess is 100% '''NO'' also. Of course, not.

Anony Mous

I remember having to go to one of those little community centers for the memorial. I don't know if anyone remembers, but in the 80s-90s it was the directive that the memorial should be held as soon as possible after sun down, so if you had a congregation that shared a hall, you had 2, 3 congregations renting community spaces right around the easter and other spring equinox celebrations.

Eventually the directive came down that we would be required to look for places that were commercial so we could negotiate the place without special decorations and you couldn't rent facilities from churches anymore, and then later came the directive that if you had multiple congregations in the same building, you'd just have to do one after the other, which was hilarious with traffic when 4 congregations need to go in and out of a building with street parking between 7 and 10pm - no time to talk, elders rushed people in and rushed the other congregation out, cops showed up because it was loud and a nuisance.

Looking back, it's surprising how many people woke up over time, just because they got jostled to think when these weird rules and regulation changes happened, about what is ostensibly the most important day to 'true believer' JWs - if they can't even get the rules around that right.

Christmas Decorations at the Kingdom hall

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