The mayor of a Belgian town apologized for any offense caused by its phallic Christmas decorations. He said that any resemblance to male genitalia was completely unintentional. The lights on the decorations are blue and white, which are the colors of the city of Oudenburg. The decorations are round balls on top of a white column. Some people find them funny, but others were surprised by them.
They were going to make candles at first.
A source says that someone thought putting a flame shape on top of the pillars was too typical, so they went with the balls instead.
At least the mayor has a sense of humor.
Anthony Dumarey, the mayor of Oudenburg, said that the decorations were not meant to be rude, but he could see why some people found them funny.
Of course, it was not our intention to install Christmas lights that remind people of a penis,
he said.
But we do see the lighter side of the incident.
They didn’t appear to be as bad before they were lit.
Dumarey said that it wasn’t until it got dark and the lights were turned on that it was clear how much they looked like a certain body part.
I only realized it myself when they were illuminated. But we have to see the humor in this,
he explained.
If that helps, they were made by hand.
The decorations were created on the cheap by Oudenburg’s technical department. Even though the department probably didn’t set out to make pieces that look like penises, that’s what happened, and Dumarey thinks it’s kind of cool that people are talking about it.
If we had bought them, it would have cost us around three times as much. So we chose the city’s colors and put a blue tip on top because we thought a flame was cliche. There has been a lot of reaction, but of course we did not intentionally set out to make them this way,
said Dumarey.
I see the funny side of it myself. We really have to do that in these dark and difficult times.
Oudenburg won’t take them down or get new ones.
It’s not a big deal, as Dumarey said.
The first time I saw them during the day, I didn’t pay any attention to them. Once they were illuminated, I noticed immediately. But I see no reason to remove or replace them.’ Let’s just say that we will have the country’s most talked-about Christmas lights this year.
