This is an Open Thread / Coffee Hour and all topics of conversation are welcome. Today's Coffee Hour is brought to you by The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display in El Cerrito, California. What is for dinner? How are you doing? What is on your mind. If you are new to Street Prophets please introduce yourself below in a comment. Note to my regular readers, I will be continuing out diet of worms next week.
As it is the Christmas season I thought I would share with everyone a story about a annual Christmas display in El Cerrito, California that was started around 1949 by an immigrant from Punjab, India by the name of Sundar Shadi.
I remember the first time I saw the display around 1959. I was a little kid at that time. My parents made a big deal about it and went out of their way to drive by Mr. Shadi’s home to view it. And every year for at least the next 10 years my parents would take me to see the display each Christmas.
(For videos showing the display and a bit more about Mr. Shadi please jump the fold.)
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The original display was next to Mr. Shadi’s home on Arlington Blvd. And over the years the original display only grew larger and more complex. When Mr. Shadi passed away the community took over putting up the display on a strip of land where high voltage power lines were anchored.
Every December, El Cerrito is home to one of the country’s most impressive Christmas displays. Scores of handmade figurines — wise men, sheep, camels — populate a massive tableau of Bethlehem, on a site that’s ordinarily marked by the presence of large electrical towers and overgrown vegetation.
KQED News: The Immigrant Who Started El Cerrito’s Favorite Christmas Tradition
For the better part of a month, the display’s lights shine bright, while holiday music echoes from speakers buried beneath stuccoed sheep. Thousands visit the display each year, from all over the region, and though it has been hosted at this particular site only since 2002, the tradition is nearly 70 years old.
KQED News: The Immigrant Who Started El Cerrito’s Favorite Christmas Tradition
In 1949, Shadi built a large wooden star and put it in the lot adjacent to their house. Things escalated from there, and as the years went on, he built a whole city from milk cartons, shower curtains, plaster and chicken wire. Over the years, Shadi’s elaborate gardens and holiday display became the stuff of legend.
KQED News: The Immigrant Who Started El Cerrito’s Favorite Christmas Tradition
Below a profile of the late Sundar Shadi, who built and designed the popular holiday display on Moeser Lane in El Cerrito, CA.
Each December the display grew as Shadi added more figures he had made during the year, starting with wise men and camels, then dozens of sheep, buildings, men sitting around a hookah and an angel. While it looks Biblical to many, it was meant to be inclusive.
Shadi “designed the display as a holiday scene that can be seen to represent the viewpoints of many religions,” his daughter Zilpha Paganelli recalled.
“He was always grateful to be in this country, where he said he wanted to create a space of peace in a beautiful and peaceful country,” Shadi’s daughter, Vera, recently wrote. “It didn’t matter what religion he chose for his display. It was the theme of peace he wanted to convey.”
From East Bay Times: El Cerrito’s Sundar Shadi Holiday Display going up Saturday
Website: The new website includes photos, video, drone footage and memories from visitors (as shared on the Facebook page) + links for volunteers and donations. www.ShadiHolidayDisplay.com