Late last month, in Lakewood – a quiet community in North Little Rock, Arkansas – Chris and Iddy Kennedy received a racist letter ‘by Santa’ telling them to remove the large Black Santa inflatable from the family’s front lawn.
“You should not try to deceive children into believing I am a Negro. I am Caucasian, White man to you,” the letter said.
“The first word that stuck out to me was Negro,” said Chris Kennedy.
For the Kennedys, all that matters is their 4-year-old, Emily.
“For her, Santa’s always been Black,” Chris Kennedy said.
Santa can be any colour you want. The one that gave birth to the narrative was Basil the Great — a Hellene from Asia Minor. Olive in complexion, tough, serious and thin.
Basil the Great, or the Bishop of St Nicholas, (Santa Claus), was from Asia Minor, or Modern Turkey. The gift giving originates from Basil’s secret gifts to poor unmarried women so as to build a dowry and marry out of poverty.
READ MORE: Santa Claus hands out toys to children of the Pankoaki Brotherhood
The original Santa, Basil, was a scholar, lawyer, orator, statesman and well known for his anti-poverty stance. He found a monastery in Pontos, modern Turkey and directed the school for five years where he wrote monastic rules still used. Santa later opened a school of oratory in Caesarea, modern Turkey not the North Pole. Santa also practiced law, like many Greeks.
He aided victims of drought, pestilence and famine and was a reformer who insisted his clergy learn science, philosophy and literature. The Bishop wasn’t particularly jolly either, insisting on rigid clerical discipline. Santa excommunicated those involved in prostitution, slavery and human trafficking.
The Ethiopians an ancient Orthodox Christian people, like the Greeks, celebrate Christmas on the 7 January. Gift giving is carried out by Yágena Abãt one of the Ethiopean Magi, (wise men), who brought gifts to that infant Jewish baby, Jesus.
The fat jolly and hyper-white Santa is the Ancient Saxon god Wodan (Odin), also known as Jólnir or “Yule figure”. When the Vikings and Germanic peoples Christianised, Odin was incorporated with the Greek Bishop. There are many versions of Santa all reflecting diverse cultures and myths.
READ MORE: Who really is Santa Claus?
The jolly red-coated one living in the North Pole was a Coca Cola myth. Coca-Cola commissioned illustrator Haddon Sundblom to develop advertising images using Santa Claus. Sundblom turned to Clement Clark Moore’s 1822 poem A Visit From St. Nicholas – commonly called Twas the Night Before Christmas. Moore’s description led to an image of a warm, friendly and plump Santa.
Religions, myths and legends, are universal. They morph to represent the times and cultures of those celebrating them.
What would white supremacists do if the inflatable was of the original skinny and leathery Asia Minor Hellene St Bishop, accompanied by Ethiopean Wise Men?