Within the past week a newscaster was castigated for stating
the historical reality that Jesus Christ and Santa Claus were white. A few days
later a school teacher told a 14 year old black student that he couldn’t dress
as Santa Claus because Santa Claus was white. This was certainly in the spirit
of peace on earth and goodwill toward men, wasn’t it? Could you imagine a
Jewish man at a costume party being told he couldn’t dress as a knight because
Jews weren’t knights in the Middle Ages? Probably not because that’s not likely
to happen.
Its common knowledge that Saint Nicholas was a Greek
Orthodox bishop in the early 300’s AD whose gift giving provided the basis for
Santa Claus. We say “Santa Claus” from our Dutch colonial inheritance, the
British say Father Christmas. The now traditional looking Santa was
standardized from a Coca Cola ad in 1931 inspired by Clement Clark Moore's 1822
poem, "A Visit From St. Nicholas" better known as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. But the reindeer may have
come from an earlier source. The Roman goddess Diana was believed to sail
through the night sky with deer. Some say the basis of Santa is a Siberian
shaman high on hallucinogenic plants flying across the sky with the reindeer.
If this is the case than Santa is more closely biologically related to the
Native Americans than any other group in the USA .
But whatever the mythological or historical origins, Santa
Claus, like Jesus, belongs to all of us; including that black teenager and his
seemingly racist teacher.
Merry Christmas!
Copyright 2013, Mark L. Bennett
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