"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

The Mystery of Christmas: God becomes Man

Many people might become caught up in the shopping and the commercialization of this holiday season, but there is clearly a more spiritual reason for all of the family gatherings and gift-giving. This of course is derived from the birth of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world, God incarnate in man. Now, for people who do not believe in Jesus, there is no reason to participate in any of the holiday's cheer and gift-giving...but I often come across people who do not show any beliefs during the year, but become ultra-religious or (in the least) attend a religious service during Christmas. If I were to say any one thing were the MOST important to believe in, it would be that God became man in Jesus Christ...because all else stems from that. Let me explain, and I'll use some anthropological themes as well as common arguments to guide me through this post.

The first question would be, why would God become a man? For many who think about such
things, to go from having Godly powers to become merely man is difficult to understand.
But for God, He "so loved the world" that he became man in Jesus, himself a piece of God.
People cry foul and say that God could never become a man. But it is as simple as the
fact that God created us to be with Him and dwell with Him. Because He is a just God, He
couldn't let us go unpunished from original sin. He had to be the perfect sacrifice unto
Himself, in order to redeem the world from that original sin.

Anthropologically and psychologically, we humans want and want and want. It's part of our survival instinct. Fat was at one time considered the picture of health...because fat meant you could withstand (or more likely withstand) a drought or famine. My point is that humanity's desires and propensity to the gathering of things, food, drink, possessions, all come from an anthropological and psychological desire as humans. So, that can explain the reason why some cannot believe a being will give up Godly powers in order to become a lowly man, subject to the whims of nature. Though I believe, this can be the reason for much disbelief around the world.

They simply do not believe Jesus was God and man.

He fulfilled many prophecies, which were written hundreds of years before Christ was
born. Of course people try to disprove these claims as well, because there is a lot of "shoe-fitting" in prophecies. The Nostradamus Effect show on the History channel and the like all do a lot of "shoe-fitting". Basically, this means a current event is interpreted as being prognosticated through a prophet at an earlier date by changing the parts of the prophecy to "fit" into the mold of the current event. Everything written by Nostradamus is ambiguous and easily re-interpreted by anyone wanting a particular event predicted by Nostradamus. People tried to say he predicted the event after the fact... by twisting what he said to fit the description of the event. No one was looking around for the things claimed to have been predicted by Nostradamus. But people in Israel in the 1st century were looking for the Messiah. We can see a demonstration of this in the story of the wise men in the Gospel of Matthew.

    "    Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
    “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
 are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
 who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”
After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.
Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way."
(Matthew 2:1-12 ESV)

The Magi knew what they were looking for. They knew the prophecies and knew that a new king was coming to Israel. This is one of the proofs of the prophecy's authenticity. And because it was done at the time of the event (or including travel time, before) there is NO "SHOE-FITTING". People anticipated this event for 700 years since Isaiah prophecied it. Here is the original prophecy, along with what is said of Jesus' birth:

"Then he said, 'Hear now, O house of David!  Is it a small thing for you to weary men,
but will you weary my God also?  Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: 
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.' "
(Isaiah 7:13-14)
    "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.  And the government will be
upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there
will be no end.  Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish
it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. " (Isaiah 9:6-7)
    "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His
name Jesus.  He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest;  and the Lord
God will give Him the throne of His father David. " (Luke 1:31-32)

As a further proof of the prophecy of God becoming man in Jesus Christ, there is the story of Jesus' dedication in the temple. When baby Jesus was dedicated in the temple, Simeon said he had heard from God that he would see the Savior before he died:

" Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”
And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:25-35)

If we can take the narrative as it is happening, then these things serve to prophesy about Jesus' life and death in Israel. Speaking about the salvation of all, not just Israel, is another prophecy for Jesus' ministry and His message.

Taking these stories at face value, as they happened, one can't help but believe that such a thing was possible. It's not just a story. The people in these stories were real, flesh and blood people, who saw and heard miraculous things. Not everyone of these people were hallucinating, under the influence of sleep-deprivation, under the influence of drugs or chemicals...when you realize how many people have told this story, and how many references we have to it, you logically cannot believe that they are all liars. Being so removed from the events, having 2 thousand years separating us from Jesus' birth, we can brush the story aside as fairy tale. Believe me, if Christians are believing a fairy tale, then explain miraculous healing scientifically? No one can explain, other than to say it is 'spontaneous'. That is the scientific community's best explanation... that whatever happened was unexpected. The entire scientific revolution (and the Scientific Method that many of you would use in biology/chemistry/physics class) is based on observation of results to stimuli. For those that experience spontaneous healing, some people that I know, there is no stimuli other than FAITH. Faith is not a scientific stimulus, and therefore does not have predicted results. Well, that's why it's miraculous!

To bring us back to our topic, and to wrap up my argument, the miracle of God becoming man is perfectly allowed in the logical examination of the events that surround the birth of Jesus. Whether it's the prophecies that predicted His birth and ministry, or the events surrounding Mary and the virgin birth (which was also predicted), the occurrence of one event builds to create the rest of the story. If Mary had no intercourse to conceive Jesus, and an Angel (who acted a as messenger from God) told her what had happened and what was to happen, then will we really just write it off as fanciful writing and fairy tale? An Angel brought Joseph the message to stay with Mary, and then the message to flee to Egypt, which saved Jesus from the massacre of the innocents (Matthew 2:16-18). This fulfilled prophecies in Jeremiah 31, by the way. The evidence stacks up for the creation of God in a man named Jesus, for whom people were searching in the first century AD. If you are willing to believe that all of these people aren't lying (for what did they have to gain anyway?) then you can rest assured that Jesus was God and Man, and that He has saved us, just as His name means, "God rescues".

~ Buzz