What is all this fuss about Santa Claus being white and not
black. Like many of these meaningless
controversies they seem to start at Fox News or blown out of portion by Fox
News. The big question is who gives a
sh*t. With all of the issues in the
country and in the world, what I wonder why black vs. white Santa is even
discussed.
Santa Claus was apparently based on St. Nicholas. I found the following on cbn.com:
The story of our modern Santa Claus begins with this same
Nicholas, who was born during the third century in Patara, a village in what is
now Demre, Turkey. His wealthy parents raised him as a Christian. But they died
in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young, and he was left with their
fortune. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to
the poor," Nicholas used his inheritance to assist the suffering, the
sick, and the poor. During the persecution of Christians by Roman Emperor
Diocletian, Bishop Nicholas was exiled and imprisoned along with thousands of
other Christians. Though he suffered for his faith in Jesus Christ, mercifully
Nicholas survived this persecution and was eventually released.
After returning to his post as bishop, Nicholas was called
upon to defend Christianity against the heresy of Arianism. A contemporary of
Nicholas and an early church theologian, Arius taught that God the Father and
God the Son did not exist together eternally. Arius also taught that the
pre-incarnate Jesus was a divine being created by (and possibly inferior to)
the Father at some point, before which the Son did not exist.
Tradition tells us that Nicholas vigorously fought Arianism,
and was listed as a participant in the First Council of Nicaea. This important
gathering, held in Nicaea in Bithynia (present-day Iznik in Turkey), was
convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325 A.D. This was the first
ecumenical council of the early Christian Church, and it produced the first
uniform Christian doctrine -- the Nicene Creed.
St. Nicholas Becomes Santa Claus
According to the Saint Nicholas Center Web site, after the
American Revolution, New Yorkers were looking to break with British tradition,
and they remembered with pride the colony's nearly-forgotten Dutch roots. John
Pintard, an influential patriot who founded the New York Historical Society in
1804, promoted St. Nicholas as the patron saint of both the society and the
city.
In January 1809, Washington Irving published the satirical
Knickerbocker's History of New York, which made numerous references to a jolly
St. Nicholas character. This was not a saintly European bishop, but rather a
Dutch burgher with a clay pipe. The jolly elf image received a big boost in
1823 from a poem destined to become immensely popular, "A Visit from St.
Nicholas," -- now better known as "The Night Before Christmas."
Washington Irving's St. Nicholas strongly influenced the
poem's portrayal of a round, pipe-smoking, elf-like St. Nicholas. The poem
generally has been attributed to Clement Clark Moore, a professor of biblical
languages at New York's Episcopal General Theological Seminary.
In North America, the popular name Santa Claus was taken
from the Dutch Sinterklaas, which originated with a contracted form of Sint
Nicolaas (Saint Nicholas). The "Mall Santa" that we are all familiar
with -- sporting a red suit with white cuffs and collar, and black leather
belt, became the popular image in the United States in the late 19th century
and early 20th century because of the "Merry Old Santa Claus" images
created by political cartoonist Thomas Nast.
Beginning in 1863, Nast began a series of annual drawings in
Harper's Weekly that were inspired by the descriptions found in Washington
Irving's work. These drawings established a rotund Santa with flowing beard,
fur garments, and a clay pipe. Nast drew his Santa until 1886, and his work had
a major influence in creating the modern American Santa Claus.
In the mid-20th Century a series of Coca-Cola advertisements
featuring a rotund and jovial Santa Claus was drawn by artist Haddon Sundblom
and further popularized Nast's depiction.
There are, of course, controversial aspects of the American
Santa Claus fiction. Some Christians believe he takes the focus of Christmas
away from Jesus Christ, placing it on a fictional character with little redemptive
value. Others insist that it is unhealthy for parents to lie to their children
to enforce their belief in Santa Claus. And others say that Santa Claus is a
symbol of the commercialization and consumerism that has seized the Christmas
holiday in the West. Still for others, Santa Claus and the modern celebration
of Christmas is seen as an intrusion upon their own national traditions.
But beneath all the symbolism and tradition that has been
attached to the modern American Santa Claus, he, like so many other
"Father Christmas" characters before him can hearken back to a simple
Christian bishop who loved God and loved people. Bishop Nicholas displayed his
love through the giving of gifts, just as our Heavenly Father gave the gift of
His Son to us that first Christmas morning 2000 years ago.
In this season, we celebrate how God gave His Son, Jesus, to
bring hope to the world. May each of us prayerfully consider how we, like
Nicholas, can give of ourselves to help restore hope to those that God brings
into our lives.
So now we know. Santa
Claus is from Turkey. Was he white, was
he black, or was he brown. Who cares?
The story of St Nicholas - Santa
Claus is to be cherished. The men who
today represent the image of Santa are from all walks of life and from all
backgrounds. I for one believe in the
Christmas Spirit that each Santa brings to us.
Both of these Santa's work for me.
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