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All the Rage: The Purpose of Christian Anger at the Olympics
It’s an even year, and we all know what that means! It’s time for the best athletes from around the world to come together…..and offend Christians everywhere! In case you haven’t heard, let me set the scene.
The Paris Summer Olympics which kicked off Friday, July 26th, opened in lavish fashion with the regular entertaining artistry that only comes every 2 years, but this time, French style.
Thomas Jolly, the artistic director for the opening ceremony put together a decadent show, with allusions to the Greek origins of the Olympics, culminating in a portrayal of the Feast of Dionysus. The feast was a major ancient Athenian festival honoring Dionysus, featuring dramatic tragedies and comedies. This time, the 2024 rendition included drag queens, a transgender model and a partially naked singer sitting in a fruit bowl.
Jolly said the idea was to “to have a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus, Olympian, Olympianism.”
And although Jolly didn’t name the painting his rendition of the feast may have been based on, many people pointed to the painting called “The Feast of the Gods” by Jan van Bijlert, created between 1635 and 1640. If you look at the ceremony and the painting side-by-side, they…