“Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat,
Please put a penny in the old man’s hat…”
Too cheery? Maybe that isn’t your sort of thing. Maybe you would like something darker… a little Gothic Christmas. Yes, Virginia, there is a Gothic Santa Claus, Christmas Tree and all the darker decorations that go with it. Why decorate your tree with a jolly fat man and reindeer when you can use ornaments that inspire supernatural flights of fancy or mysterious creatures straight from the designers’ nightmares.
Well, The Dark Forest put the question of how do you celebrate a Goth Christmas to members of several Gothic groups on the various social media and here’s what the general consensus was:
First of all, you need to start with a black Christmas tree. You can either by one or spray paint a regular Christmas tree black.
Then, again, if you don’t want to spray paint a tree or buy a black one, you can always go the Addams Family route and decorate a tree with naked branches. Bare branches with red tinsel looking like dripping blood instead of icicles was also another favorite theme. And don’t forget to hang your Christmas tree upside down from the ceiling.
What makes something Gothic? Characteristics of the Gothic include death and decay, ghosts and vampires. When you decorate a Gothic Christmas tree, think terror and wonder. Santa becomes a decomposing skeleton in a red Santa suit. Snowflake ornaments are black instead of white. Black bulbs have white skulls on them. And don’t forget the black wreath for your front door. If you are in the mood to hang Christmas stockings, black with skulls will do very nicely. All you have to do is Google “Gothic Christmas” to find hundreds of dark ideas with which to celebrate the season.
Another recommendation that was popular was the graveyard look, which is a blending of Halloween and Christmas. Then there was the Nightmare Before Christmas theme or the Addams Family theme. And what would say Gothic Christmas more than the presents wrapped with Edgar Allen Poe wrapping paper.
A Gothic Christmas needs to be filled with purple, black, dark gray or navy blue colors. And the images of sugarplums need to be replaced with dragons, gargoyles, fairies, wizards, ogres and ghosts.
Another suggestion from our responding Goths was to go a little more Pagan and sit around and watch the Yule log burn and listen to Christopher Lee reading Edgar Allen Poe. Don’t have a fireplace? Don’t worry. Check your TV listings. There are several media groups across the country that offer a Yule Log presentation with their free over-the-air broadcasts. That hours of commercial free TV with just the Yule log burning in all its fiery glory.
Christmas does not have to be traditional by any stretch of the imagination. Just paint your tree black and let yourself go.
The Dark Forest 