Public Service Announcement: Yuletide Geography
I take a lot of enjoyment from looking at home exteriors decorated for Christmas. I love the tasteful string of lights as well as the garish lawn covered with inflatable Santas and reindeer. But one decoration has grown in popularity in recent years that has left me scratching my head. Our popular celebration of Christmas has adopted the North Pole and all things Arctic even if they have nothing to do with first century Palestine. Fair enough. I present to you these exhibits from my neighborhood:
Exhibit A. Notice that this exterior is covered with all sorts of Arctic symbolism. Two Santa Clauses, reindeer (inflatable and illuminated), inflatable carousel, etc. Notice, however, the decoration in the upper right hand corner of the picture.
A penguin wearing a Santa hat.
Exhibit B.
More penguins. Wearing more Santa hats.
What gives? Penguins are Antarctic animals, not Arctic. Perhaps one could say that these decorations aren’t confusing the Earth’s poles, but I doubt it. To support my claim, I present to you Exhibit C.
A penguin on an igloo. In cased you missed it, I’ll repeat myself. A penguin. On an igloo.
There are no igloos near the South Pole because no indigenous people live there. Nor are there any penguins near where the Eskimos have ever lived. Ridiculous. I hope Santa brings a lot of people atlases for Christmas.
Do you remember the old Chilly Willy Cartoons? I think that was a penguin who lived in an igloo. I expect our country to be more informed by that cartoon than much anything else regarding the geography of penguins.
Comment by Bill Ekhardt — December 18, 2007 @ 1:34 pm
My memory of Chilly Willy scantly registers, but you’re probably right. He was a part of the Woody Woodpecker universe, wasn’t he? I wish we’d all go rent March of the Penguins. What about the penguins from Madagascar? They were geographically accurate. See the video here (go to about 4:33 for the best joke).
Comment by Tyler Watson — December 18, 2007 @ 4:30 pm
This post totally made my day! Thanks for the giggle.
Comment by Jason — December 18, 2007 @ 4:38 pm
Tracy’s looking for a penguin in a santa hat to send to you.
Comment by Bill Ekhardt — December 20, 2007 @ 6:20 am
It’s not so much the penguin in the Santa hat, it’s the insinuation that penguins live in the Arctic.
Comment by Tyler Watson — December 20, 2007 @ 7:49 am
Very smart. Very funny. Rightfully incensed.
Comment by Una Lucey-Lee — December 27, 2007 @ 4:39 pm