"Black Santa" and the Tradition of Santa Claus

There has been big news over the last week and a half about a show host on FOX news saying that Santa and Jesus were White. Moreover, that these characters are both historically accurate and verifiable in those descriptions. Now, I won't get into the fact that this is a horribly close-minded view of Christmas and Christian history, or that anyone with half a brain would know that Jesus was Jewish and of the Semitic peoples of the Near East (hence, non-white). My purpose for writing this post (my first in a year) is to highlight the issue of assigning race/ethnicity to any culturally important figure, whether they are fictional or historical or both. And as I always try to do on this yearly (hopefully soon monthly) blog, I will give you the faith-filled side of the story, then give you the weird stuff, with 'weird' used loosely because anything interesting to me has to be slightly odd or unknown.

The Faith

 

Most people know Santa's many names, such as Father Christmas and Kris Kringle, so it should be no surprise to most that one of his other common names, St. Nick, is based on a 4th Century Saint by the name of Nicholas. He lived as a Greek bishop in the city of Myra, a small Roman town in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) at a time when the Roman Emperor Diocletian persecuted all Christians.

St. Nicholas was definitely a badass (in a strictly Christian way)

Because he defied the authorities, Nicholas spent much time in jail for his "crimes". When Emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be legal in the early 4th century, Nicholas was free to continue his leadership of the local churches and many miracles are attributed to him. His feast day in the Catholic and Orthodox Christian religions is December 6, the day he died in 343AD. This day is still celebrated by religious peoples because of the many stories about St. Nicholas "The Wonder-worker", totally separate from the Santa Claus mythos.

One such story serves as the basis for the Santa character's love of children and his gift-giving tendencies.

A poor man had three daughters but could not afford a proper dowry for them. In absence of any other possible employment, the daughters would have to become prostitutes. Hearing of the girls' plight, Nicholas decided to help them. With Nicholas being too modest to help the family in public (or to save them the humiliation of accepting charity), he went to the house under the cover of night. He threw one purse filled with gold coins through the window opening into the house for the daughter that was to come of age the next day. Over a period of three years, Nicholas sent his purse of gold through their window the night before one of the daughters would come of age. In the third year the father tried to discover the identity of their benefactor. The father confronted Nicholas, only to have Nicholas say it is not him the father should thank, but God alone.

Because of this story, and a few others about his rescue/resurrection of children, St. Nicholas had a fair following in the churches up until the Protestant Reformation. Through the Middle Ages, St. Nicholas took on some aspects of pagan gods, gaining a big white beard and the ability to fly. Because of St. Nicholas, children were taught to say their prayers and do good deeds. Because of the veneration of Saints deemed unholy in the new Protestant churches, and with the tradition of gift-giving at the end of the year firmly established in the Christian world, the Baby Jesus took the place of St. Nicholas. But because his image as a fatherly but robust and even scary figure, Baby Jesus could not fully take the place of St. Nick on Christmas night. So he was given a helper.

The Weird

 

Baby Jesus gave the gifts, but in Germany and across Europe his scary sidekick "Ru-Klaus" or "Pelznickel" would act as the guy dishing out punishment to bad children and did all the grunt work for the infantile Jesus.

 Pelznickel, after murdering every furry thing in the forest.

But some families, especially those in the Netherlands, didn't want to follow the changeover to Baby Jesus. They kept on with their traditions of the gift-bringing "Sinterklaas" and these traditions found their way to America centuries later. In poems and books written in the early 19th century, American writers remade Nicholas (and by extension, Santa Claus) by giving him a flying wagon and gifts to deliver to all good girls and boys (along with switches to the bad ones). In 1822, Clement Clarke Moore wrote, "A Visit From St. Nicholas," which I'm sure you can remember by its first line, "Twas the night before Christmas". St. Nicholas started to gather characteristics of all gift-givers from Christmas traditions across Europe, such as the shaggy furs from Ru-Klaus and the immortality of Baby Jesus. In other poems, stories, and pictures, we get the descriptions of Santa Claus as various as you can imagine. Eventually, by the end of the 19th century, we get the familiar description of Santa that has endured to today. Jolly, fat, white-bearded old man with a red suit with a sack over his shoulder filled with toys (or just a fat, white-bearded car salesmen if you believe Chevy).

The Character of Santa Claus

Thomas Nast's Traditional Image of Santa.

 

My point is that the image of Santa Claus has always been changing and is relative to the traditions of the area in which you decide to celebrate Christmas. Saint Nicholas, although he is the historical basis for the myth of Santa Claus, is not a direct representation of him and never will be. Otherwise we would probably have a grey-bearded, olive-skinned, definitely thin Santa, dressed in bishop's vestments and carrying a Bible. Even that 'historically accurate' representation of St. Nicholas would be off, just because we know only so much about him. What's important to understand is why the myth has become what it is today, and why it is foolish to argue against other representations of such a character. We know the modern image of Santa has little to do with the historical St. Nick. The Tradition in Christian homes (and most American homes) is to celebrate Christmas and Santa, as he is represented currently, as a white man. That doesn't mean all homes in America or the World should adopt such a representation of their Christmas gift-giver, and it allows those from differing ethnic and social backgrounds to adapt Santa to something they are familiar with. Does this mean there can be a Black Santa? Yes, and Macy's agrees.

A mythical figure can have a traditional image, but the society in which he exists is allowed to dictate that image. Just because writers from 19th century America said he had rosy cheeks and pearly white skin doesn't mean he will stay that way. However, don't go crazy thinking about Santa suddenly becoming a thin Indian man with black hair driving a Mercedes. The commercialization of such a character means he is likely to stay in the traditional image for the foreseeable future (if he was anything else, customers wouldn't recognize him). Throughout history there are examples of folktales or folk heroes changing nationalities, ethnicity, sizes, and shapes to fit the society in which they existed. Folktales and stories propagate by story-telling, and in the telling of stories outside of modern technology, Kindles, and record-keeping, "facts" of the story change.

'Historical' Santa

The historical Santa wasn't named 'Santa' at all. Is that something we need to change or argue against? No, because the 'historical' Santa is not the character that gives gifts to good girls and boys on Christmas Eve. And because of that, I think there can be a Black Santa, the same reason there can be an Indian Santa, a Chinese Santa, etc. The inclusion of the many nationalities and skin colors is what makes the tradition strong in the eyes of the people celebrating it. It is not something a culture owns and patents as 'verifiable fact'. The culture adapts the tradition to include the society in which the tradition is being practiced. This is what happened in early 19th century America, adapting and combining a Christian religious figure with gift-giving tendencies, the German helpers of Baby Jesus on Christmas night, and the Dutch Sinterklaas into Santa Claus. Perhaps, in the next couple centuries, writers, artists, and poets in our society will dictate that a new image for Santa Claus become the norm.

Have a Merry Christmas!

~ Buzz

Further reading/source: St. Nicholas to Santa