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Christmas

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Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people worldwide. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast. It initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on the Twelfth Night.

Christmas Day is a public holiday in many countries. It is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians and culturally by many non-Christians, forming an integral part of the holiday season organized around it. For The Residents, Christmas has become a recurring element in their work, particularly relating to their Santa Dog recordings.

Usage

Pre-Residents

The Residents' have enjoyed poking fun at Christmas since their pre-history, with a 6-second long track titled 'Christmas Morning Foto' appearing on the pre-Residents demo tape The Warner Bros. Album. The year afterward, the group released their 'Santa Dog' EP, a set of two 7" records contained in gatefold packaging resembling a Christmas card from an insurance company. The EP featured two songs referencing Christmas traditions, Fire and Explosion.

The Residents

The Residents' 1974 Christmas Card.

In 1973 The Residents recorded their debut work, Meet The Residents, the finale of which features two songs inspired by Christmas, Seasoned Greetings, and N-ER-GEE (Crisis Blues). In 1974, The Residents also sent out an art collage Christmas card, and a few years later, released the 'Beyond the Valley of a Day in the Life' sound collage, which features samples from The Beatles' third Christmas Record, particularly when The Beatles are decorating a tree. The following year The Residents released Santa Dog '78, establishing a pattern of re-recording 'Fire' to announce a stylistic shift in their work. The year after that, The Residents' released 'Dumbo The Clown Who Loved Christmas.'

The group's next big dig at Christmas was The 12 Days of Brumalia in 2003. With this 'web event,' The Residents created Brumalia as their winter holiday of choice, lasting from December 24th, 2003, to January 5th, 2004.

Between 'Dumbo' and Brumalia, The Residents had made small references to Christmas, but nothing particularly notable. In 1985 they recorded a version of 'Jingle Bells,' which eventually was incorporated into the For Elsie single, and in 1983 completed their early 'Saint Nix' recording, which is unrelated to Christmas outside of its title is a pun on Saint Nick. Also to note, The Residents' Mr. Red mask, was stolen from backstage when The Residents' performed at The Palace Theatre on December 26th, 1985.

Their most recent largescale Christmas parody was The Wonder of Weird, a live show that toured from January to May 2013 with Christmas inspired set design and costuming. The show was billed as the 40th Anniversary tour, with the joke being that their actual 40th anniversary was December 2012, hence the Christmas theming. This highlighted the 'crummy' energy of the characters, by making the set design resemble a household which hasn't taken down their Christmas decorations yet, with the effect increasing as the tour continued into the year.

In 2016 Charles Bobuck released a digital single titled 'Flesh Christmas.'

List

References

Christmas Shows

Christmas Releases

See Also

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