Satanic group robbed of its tree ornaments at Christmas in the Park in San Jose

The Satanic Bay Area group said Tuesday that a number of its ornaments were taken from their tree at Christmas in the Park in San Jose over the weekend. The group handmade about 140 of the ornaments, and expect they will have to replenish the tree in two weeks if items continue to be stolen. less The Satanic Bay Area group said Tuesday that a number of its ornaments were taken from their tree at Christmas in the Park in San Jose over the weekend. The group handmade about 140 of the ornaments, and expect ... more Photo: Courtesy Satanic Bay Area Photo: Courtesy Satanic Bay Area Image 1 of / 24 Caption Close Satanic group robbed of its tree ornaments at Christmas in the Park in San Jose 1 / 24 Back to Gallery

Another local Satanic group found itself without many of its holiday ornaments this weekend, when the decorations were stolen from a public holiday event this weekend.

Satanic Bay Area took part in the annual tree decorating at San Jose's Christmas in the Park event Friday morning, but by Monday, the group said a number of its decorations were missing — enough so that a group member had to redistribute the ornaments to cover up the losses. The group is expecting to have to add more ornaments before the event concludes on Dec. 25.

"Ornament theft is a thing that happens at Christmas in the Park, unfortunately, and we even anticipated that ahead of time," said Satanic Bay Area organizer Daniel Walker. "I don't want to say we don't mind, because it is annoying, but at the same time, [theft] is a fact of life. I was a little taken aback when I got the message today saying, 'Hey if this keeps up, we're going to have to make some new [ornaments] in about two weeks or so, it's gonna run out if the [theft] rate doesn't get down.' That I did not expect.

"It's really less a question of the act itself, it's more a question of the rate at which it appears to be happening," Walker added.

The ornaments taken off the Satanic Bay Area tree include pentagrams, inverted crosses, 3-D printed ornaments of the group's logo, and decorations with images of Krampus, a mythological creature associated with Christmas and said to punish naughty children. Walker said members of their group came together to craft the items, totaling about 140 ornaments, most of them handmade, that decorated the tree on Friday.

If this sounds familiar, last year, a different Satanic group that worked with Christmas in the Park had a similar issue. The San Jose chapter of the Satanic Temple decorated a tree in which its elaborate topper — an intricate mask made to look like Baphomet, a goat-headed deity that is symbolic to the group — was also taken from their tree. (The two groups are not affiliated with each other, Walker confirmed.)

This is just the second year a Satanic group has worked with Christmas in the Park, said organizers, but groups do experience ornament theft from time to time. Participants are encouraged to use inexpensive ornaments in case of theft and use wire ties to secure them, said Jason Minsky, executive director for Christmas in the Park.

Minsky confirmed Tuesday that he did hear the group suffered a loss of decorations to their tree. Groups new to the event sometimes use "really nice ornaments" to decorate their trees, said Minsky, which can be a problem.

"These trees are literally a foot away from the fence and people can easily reach over and grab ornaments. We tell [participants], 'Don't use nice ornaments, people are really going to steal your handcrafted ornaments.' We definitely have had some incidents in the past where ornaments have been taken — maybe because they're too nice."

Staff, private security and police at Christmas in the Park try to prevent thefts, but with 550 trees to watch over this year (and over 600 trees in 2017), Minsky said it's impossible to police every tree.

Still, Satanic Bay Area is taking the theft in stride. Other groups have offered to chip in with new ornaments, and members have said they would make more decorations to add to the tree. Walker called it "a good opportunity to rally together" in the face of the thefts.

"People were a little bit disappointed [about the stolen ornaments] and a little bit put out; again, it's news that we expected and it's not the end of the world," Walker said. "I don't want to make it sound like we feel put upon or persecuted, but it is a little disappointing, especially for some folks who lost things they were particularly proud of. The fact that it happened after just a couple of days and already we have to think about doing replacements? That was discouraging."

Despite the missing ornaments, according to Walker, the group doesn't feel the theft was necessarily directed at them, and said organizers and attendees were "mostly positive" when they were decorating their tree. Walker typified the response to the tree as anywhere from "hilarious to baffled to amused," with just one member reporting witnessing "one or two people who complained" about the tree.

"Since nobody has attacked the tree or broken anything, I assume this is something people are doing because they like the ornaments and they want to take one," said Walker. "I don't want to make a thing about it, because this happens to everyone to one degree or another. If you want an ornament, just let us know — it'll be much easier for everybody."

Read Dianne de Guzman's latest stories and send her news tips at ddeguzman@sfchronicle.com.

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