For some of you, that’s going to need some explaining. I’m not talking about actual people. These good guys were fictional. The first television set owned by my family arrived in our home in the early 1950’s. It received exactly two channels: NBC and CBS ... and the picture was entirely in black and white. We did not get a color television until the 1960’s ... about the same time as most people.
You may be wondering, at this point, what this has to do with the good guys wearing white hats.
On early TV shows featuring cowboys (and there were quite a few of these), there was a need to easily distinguish the bad guys from the good guys. Almost no one possessed a color television, so those early black and white TV shows used the simplest means of differentiation: white hats versus black hats.
It wasn’t a new approach; the movies had been doing this same thing for several years. Moving the practice to black and white television programs just made sense. That way, whenever there was a shootout between cowboys, the viewer knew exactly which group to root for: the guys in the white hats.
Recalling all those hours of watching Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and so many others in those good guy roles, it’s easy to think of those days as a simpler time. Was it? Probably not. But it did seem that way. I can’t help but think of Mason Williams singing Cowboy Buckaroo. Listen to it
Here
Sadly, hat colors have not always been so useful in determining which are the bad guys. Hopalong Cassidy wore a black hat, even though he was a good guy. Some bad guys wear no hats, at all. And even when hats have been common, they may well have looked just the same as everyone else’s.
But that hasn’t stopped people from associating hats with bad guys.
In this week’s selection from the Book of Esther, we encounter one of the most heinous characters in all of scripture: Haman. You should read all of Esther (short read) to really get the measure of this guy. “Bad” doesn’t begin to cover it. But if you just want to find out how the story ended, read this week’s selection.
Purim is celebrated to remember the days when Haman almost succeeded in destroying the Jewish people ... and the heroic acts of Esther to thwart his plans. One of the main foods eaten in celebrating Purim is Hamantaschen, a triangular pastry with fillings. Those might be poppy seed, prune, various fruit preserves, chocolate, caramel, etc. (it could be almost anything, even savory concoctions). While just about everyone agrees that they represent the villain Haman, the meaning of the “taschen” part of the name is up for debate. In Hebrew it might refer to Haman’s ears (and the practice of cutting those off prior to hanging!). In German, it might refer to Haman’s pockets (where he stored the money he offered to the King for permission to kill all the Jews).
But there is an old legend —and the most common belief, today— that Haman wore a three-cornered hat ...
No one knows the color.
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PHOTO; The author, with his brand new (black and white) television set! (Circa, early 1950’s)
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 21 (26) (September 30, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22
Psalm 124
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Psalm 19:7-14
James 5:13-20
Mark 9:38-50
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Come join us Friday mornings for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We still meet at 8:00 in the function room of the Waco “Egg and I“ restaurant (the door is down the outside and near the back). We enjoy a wonderful hour, noshing on good food, reading the scriptures, praying, laughing, discussing ... and not necessarily in that order.
Many blessings,
Steve
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