Satanic Temple installs holiday display in front of New Hampshire State House

On one side of Concord’s City Plaza is a nativity scene. On the other is a pentagram — a symbol of Satanism — encircled by a wreath.

The display, installed by the Satanic Temple’s New Hampshire and Vermont congregation, honors the Dec. 25 Satanic holiday of Sol Invictus, which translates to “unconquered sun” in Latin.

Sol Invictus is a “celebration of being unconquered by superstition and consistent in the pursuit and sharing of knowledge,” according to the group’s website.

The wreath, adorned with lilacs, New Hampshire’s state flower, will stay up through Dec. 31 alongside other religious and seasonal exhibits that are on display in front of the State House.

“We, like any other religion and organization, are allowed to participate in this public forum, and we are proud to stand with these other displays,” Vivian Hess-Mahan, the congregation’s co-leader and minister, said in a press release.

This is the second annual holiday display by the Satanic Temple, which erected a statue of its part-goat, part-human deity, Baphomet, last year.

The robed figure and an accompanying plaque of the group’s guiding tenets garnered attention on social media and were repeatedly knocked down and shattered, leading Concord Police to arrest three people on vandalism charges.

The City of Concord approved the permit for the first display based on the First Amendment and to avoid a lawsuit, officials said in a statement last year.

State Rep. Ellen Read, a Newmarket Democrat, asked the Satanic Temple to install something on City Plaza.

“As a secular lawmaker, I believe it is critical that the City of Concord does not appear to endorse one specific religion over another,” Read said in the press release, arguing that the public place of City Plaza should be “neutral and inclusive.”

“Pluralism is the heartbeat of the ‘Live Free or Die’ state,” she said. “We must ensure that no single perspective dominates the public conversation and that all groups feel safe and represented in their own government.”

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