Strange thing happened to me last night. I ended up inadvertenly (more or less) watching a nativity pageant from way up close, best seat in the house, as it were. It was a real eye-opener ... in a couple of ways.
My wife and I took our three year old son up to Rockport, MA yesterday. There was a demonstration of candy-cane making at a local candy factory. Rockport is a charming (in an upscale/touristy way) town northeast of Boston. We figured we'd see the candy-cane making, then hang around Rockport for a bit.
When we got there, parking was really difficult. There were lots of spaces blocked off saying "No Parking after 4:30pm. Pageant." There was already caroling going on, so I figured it was some Christmas thing, but I wasn't sure what. I asked a cop and he explained that there was going to be a nativity pageant. There would be one or two thousand people watching, it would be pretty good. I thought, hmmm, that sounds mildly interesting. Most importantly, I thought it might be entertaining for our son. Anyone with a toddler understands the premium we put on anything that will entertain Henry.
We're Jewish, but not observant. Henry is just learning about Jewish and Christian, Hannukah and Christmas. I figured that a nativity pageant would be slightly educational, and we could make it clear that we didn't believe in the stuff going on. But, again, it would be entertaining. So, I said to my wife, "Hey, if you're up for a grotesque violation of the separation of church and state, there's a nativity pageant going on later." I guess pageant in my mind creates visions of third-graders. In the back of my mind I was thinking of a ten minute little play with eight-year olds playing the part of Mary and Joseph, et al.
Well, after we finished in the candy shop (lots of fun by the way ... don't pass up an opportunity to watch someone making candy canes ... very cool), we wandered over to a boutique across the street. My wife asked me about her purse. I was supposed to have brought it with me after I parked the car, but had forgotten. So, off I trudged with our rather large box of candy, to put the candy in the car and bring back my wife's purse. It was almost pageant time, but for some reason I had the idea that the real festivities weren't for a little while, and that the crowd was still forming.
Well, I was mistaken. As I headed for the car, the crowd got thicker, and pretty soon the pageant had begun. I found myself directly across from the loudspeakers, right next to the church into which the procession would march. The crowd was so thick and the atmosphere was so intense (more of that in a moment) that I couldn't politely push my way through the crowd.
A narrator read the story of baby Jesus, as dozens and dozens of Rockporters dressed as Jews circa 33 BC (and a few gladiators and other characters) marched solemnly through the center of Rockport. The crowd was rapt, in the true sense of the word. This was as intensely religious a moment as any I have witnessed in a synagogue on Yom Kippur (I'm not observant now, but as a child, my family was). This was nothing like I had expected. My wife ended up watching a little bit as well, from the edge of the crowd. She keeps using the word creepy. That certainly fits. I guess the best I can describe it is that the center of Rockport had clearly become a church. I don't know what midnight mass is like, but I'm guessing the ambience is very similar to what I witnessed.
I'll pretty much leave it at that. No need to draw conclusions. Its just that in my naivete, living in Brookline, Massachusetts, I had no idea what goes on in town squares across this country that have nativity pageants. Just puts the separation of church and state issue in sharper perspective.
I did think about one other thing. And, in spirit it is almost contradictory to my main point (to the extent this diary has a point). But, I'll just say what it was and leave the contradiction, such as it is, hanging. As I looked out into the crowd, I couldn't help thinking, every one of these people should be Democratic voters. They all appeared to be gentle, compassionate souls. And, I wondered how many of them vote Republican simply because they feel that Democrats are anti-religion. No way to know the answer, but I thought about that for a while.