Pagan Features at a Christian Fundraiser

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 31, 1888

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 14, No. 34.

Pagan Features at a Christian Fundraiser

In order to raise needed money for the association, the ladies of the auxiliary of the Y. M. C. A. of Oakland, gave a series of tableaux last week. After the tableaux there was an "expurgated Greek symposium, or drinking banquet, with libations to the gods." In harmony with the expurgated character of the occasion, however, lemonade was substituted for wine. The distinctively pagan features of the entertainment, such as the "song of praise to Phœbus Apollo, the pagan sun-god," and the "chaste representation of Venus Aphrodite," by a young lady, are said to have been very much admired.