Where Did THAT Come From – Pagan Bonfire

“Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring ting tingling along,
Let’s sing a jolly holiday non-denominational song.”

Oh hey there friends! Happy Life Day and Merry Chrismakwanzafestikkah to you! In our silly lil game, we sometimes see things pop in that we have no clue as to their Origin. They seem familiar, but we just can’t pinpoint from where. So that is why we decided to make a fun lil reminder out of it. To let you know just Where did THAT Come From?

It’s Act Two of the 2016 TSTO Holiday Event and we’re still stuck in this event all about paganism, returning Christmas items, and snow. EA sure took a strange turn for the event but regardless if you love it or hate it, there’s always more free stuff that comes with TSTO events. New stuff means this walking carpet has a job to do and it’s time for me to do just that. For this round of origins, we’ll be taking a look at the pagan bonfire.

You know, when I was a wee lad and going to a Christian elementary school, I learned a lot about Bible canon. Amidst all the stuff I remember was one name that was the very definition of paganism… Ba’al. I don’t want to be preachy or espouse any particular religion but if you’re unfamiliar with this deity, basically at one point in the history of the Jewish faith, Ba’al was another worshipped by people particularly the Phoenicians and Babylonians. Of course not too many people think of this name nowadays unless reading the Old Testament but this latest holiday-ish event centered around the opposite of Christmas brought a Gil deal with an animated decoration where any buyers could practice “Honoring a Long Forgotten God.” Gil promised for 170 donuts you could “see yourself dancing around half-naked around a giant statue of Ba-al.”

Honestly, this is one deal I would not have bought if I hadn’t immediately known its origin. Believe it or not… this “epic pagan scene” comes from the show… “So It’s Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show” (S4:E18). Season 4 is considered by many to be one of the best seasons of the show. I agree it’s a very strong one and it contains a lot of my favorite episodes. This one is not the best of the batch but not because of any lack of quality. It’s just that it’s exactly what it promises to be… a clip show. It starts with some good ol’ April Fools pranks between Homer and Bart. Lisa’s right there to give some history on April Fool’s day once being the pagan new year and we get to see the statue and our costumed Simpson family dancing around it.

Pretty sure the dates here aren’t accurate but as a side note, it’s probably not a great idea to get your history lessons from an animated sitcom. It is super funny that the Christians shown in the clip are the Flanderseses. They are responsible for the whole pranking thing if you believe our favorite yellow family. I just wish the statue had included a bonus task for the Simpsons and Flanders clans. I guess even TSTO knows when to stop burning Christians.

Once you get past the pranks and beer explosion, that’s where you get to all the clips but they are fun to watch. That’s really all there is to the new item which became available via Alissa’s favorite friend Gil. While I think this would have been more appropriate in April, now I can just pretend this offering is EA telling us all that this pagan event was officially one big joke or maybe it’s their weird tie-in to the New Year? I picked this up but I wouldn’t blame anyone for passing on it. What are your thoughts? Did you remember this fake history lesson from the show? Sound off in the comments and happy tapping friends.

TTFN… Wookiee out!