LOCAL CHRISTIAN GROUP SHAKES UP MALL CULTURE:
Local Winnipeg members of the Buy Nothing Christmas Campaign hit the malls the other day, Saturday the 16th, with a message a little bit different from what you usually hear in the Temples of Consumerism. The Church-based coalition set up for about an hour each at the Polo park Shopping Centre, the Ellice Ave, WalMart and the Future Shop on St. James St. . Operating from the 'Christmas Burnout Bus' with an eponymous banner, the anti-Xmas Christians walked through the stores singing satirical songs, adapted from traditional Christmas carols, against the over-consumption of the holidays. They offered their bus as a haven for stressed out shoppers.
The Buy Nothing Christmas Campaign has been a Winnipeg feature for three years now being co-founded by Mennonite Church member Aiden Enns. Since then the campaign has mounted campaigns such as the one this year, but they have also produced their own Christmas musical on show at various local Churches that delivers their message against Christmas consumerism in a different way. They have also held workshops on craft making as an alternative to store bought gifts.
Enns once worked at Adbusters Magazine, and in the past few years has integrated his religious and social beliefs into a coherence anti-consumption message.
The group can be reached at Buy Nothing Christmas, 264 Home St., Winnipeg, MB R3G 1X3. They also maintain a website at http://www.buynothingchristmas.org . The site provides links to a youth guide, the 'Buy Nothing Catalogue' (non-consumption gifts), musical items and a cartoon about Jesus and Christmas. There is also a link to their radical Christian magazine -'Geez'.
Interesting Holiday reading !
Molly