The attraction to Bible figures cut from garishly colored felt cloth
stretches
across all denominations. Protestants and Catholics alike accessorize
their
holy places with felt. Why is this?
I was in a hundred year old Catholic Church last weekend. It was more
ornately decorated than Liberace’s Las Vegas piano bar/bathhouse –
glass,
crystal, gold…and fucking FELT. There were ivory crosses and crucifi,
hard-wood pews, vaulted ceilings, the gaudiest alter I have ever seen
in my
life. And right there up front; in front of God, Mary, all those dead
Jesuses
was a felt board.
The crude red and orange letters canted drunkenly over the green felt
background. I’m sure it spelled a Bible verse of some sort. This little
sign
matched the décor rest of the church in much the same way as
a bloated
whale carcass wouldn’t.
What is it about felt? I’ve read the Bible twice now, and have not discovered
its significance.