Christmas Angels at Rockefeller

The twelve wire-sculptured angels stand triumphant with brass trumpets in their hands in front of the famous tree at Rockefeller Center. The white angel sculptures, created by Valerie Clarebout in 1954, are adorned with sparkling white lights; it is truly a magnificent splendor that radiates the warm, uplifting energy of the Christmas holiday.

The sculpted angels, however, are not merely a wondrous sight. They stand proudly as a symbolic representation of the Christian religion that still holds dominance in America. The depiction of angels have their origins in Christianity and are religious symbols in many facets of the religion. Angels, in the Christian tradition, are considered the messengers of God. The Christmas angels at Rockefeller hold their trumpets to signify the glory in the arrival of Baby Jesus.

Upon arrival and observing the structures, I realized I couldn’t make much of the angels. I couldn’t derive their significance, besides the obvious fact of being a symbol of Christianity. Was that all there was to it?

I watched the crowds of people gravitate to the site of the angels, snapping photos, posing in front of them. I pondered the implications of the sculpted angels being home to one of the most popular tourist spots of New York City during the Holiday season. I wondered if the tourists and natives who visited the tree and saw the sparkling angels understood its essence. I began to think of what we make of our American society that molds the Christmas holiday into the consumerist culture, basking in the visual aesthetics of Christmas.

There are two perspectives; the first elaborates on the concept that the Christmas angels are objects of the secularization of the Christian religion and the Christmas tradition.  People crowd in front of display of angels, posing in front of them, taking and sending photos, solely for the beauty it holds. In attempts to gain different insights on the religious artifact, I found myself engaged in an intellectual conversation with a fellow colleague about the Christmas angels, in which she remarked something along the lines of how America has capitalized the religious symbols of Christmas and has fully immersed themselves in the consumerist mindset of making a business out of all Christmas things. I contemplated that rather pessimistic, bitter criticism of America’s take on Christmas and recalled the discussion of the sermon, “Religion and the Beautiful”, given by Henry Ward Beecher, a liberal Protestant and passionate minister of the mid-nineteenth century. Beecher provides us with an optimistic outlook on his era, negotiating an increasingly industrialized, consumerist society with religion. He encouraged all things beautiful, even the materialistic beautiful, because he believed that beautiful things on Earth was living proof of the existence of God and his undeniable presence in our lives. He bridged the gap between two contrasting cultures and found a way to harmonize them. Instead of rejecting social order and society, Beecher seeks out the good and celebrates it. I think this is a new and entirely different approach in the discussion of the consumerist society, especially in regard to Christmas. It would be wrong to lose sight of the significance of the twelve sculpted angels, blindly taking photos without recognizing the true essence of its placement there. In Beecher’s view, however, it would not be wrong to be there to admire and take in the visual aesthetics of the Christmas holiday. The brilliant, intricately crafted angels, hung with sparkling lights are pieces of God’s creation. The sight of the lavishly decorated tree and angels pointing their trumpets in the direction of the tree, creates the site that leaves the audiences wide-eyed and enchanted. For Beecher, to revel in the tangible, material things, should be encouraged, because it is not just the spiritual aspects of religion that is to be celebrated. The presence of Christ, in Beecher’s view, is ubiquitous. It stares at you in the face when you take a stroll around Rockefeller during Christmas time. In its twinkling lights and ornate structure and design, the presence of Christ is there, in the twelve angels, and that should be cherished and celebrated.