Hey everyone! This week we are getting a little weird, and by a little I mean a lot. With the holidays just around the corner we’re going to get into the festive world of Christmas decorations! I mean, I’m mostly going to rant about my own mother’s obsession with Santa faces and Santa Claus in general, but that is more fun in my opinion. Everyone has holiday traditions, for my family it is decking out our house with the image of Santa’s jolly face. Jack in the boxes, tree skirt, ornaments, throw pillows, you name it, we probably have it. We have your run of the mill chain store ornaments, to hand made from craft fairs, and of course my mother would never forget ones By Christopher Radko, their blank stares scaring my siblings and I into being the most angelic children during the holiday season. My mother’s collection includes a few Santa’s of various races and ethnicities and have also been a point of pride. As of last year, she was finally gifted an African American Santa to broaden her collection amongst her varying depictions of European faces, but the one that has always been on her tree for as long as I can remember is one Santa my aunt gifted her after living in Hong Kong. The ethnically Chinese Santa has always been a fixture on my childhood tree, and I just assumed from a young age that other countries had their own Santa’s, but they couldn’t be from the North Pole because that’s where our Santa lives. As I got older, I learned of other cultures Christmas traditions and their renditions of old Saint Nick. Through this I also did learn that some believe Santa lives in Finland, so I wasn’t completely wrong with my childhood theory either! The Dutch have Sinterklass and his sidekick Zwarte Piet who would punish naughty children. Zwarte Piet is a now controversial figure especially with African Dutch people, as he has a strong resemblance to a minstrel figure that Dutch people still dress as today. In some parts of Germanic countries, Christkind would deliver gifts. Instead of an old, bearded man, Christkind was sometimes depicted as a young cherub, or a girl dressed in white. In Slavic countries, Ded Moroz brings children presents on New Year’s Eve with his granddaughter Snegurochka. In Korea, Grandfather Christmas looks much like our traditional Santa, apart from a blue outfit and traditional Korean hat called a gat. Japan does not recognize Christmas as a public holiday, but couples see Christmas Eve as a romantic day regardless, whereas Christmas in China is more popular in large cities full of expats. Like Japan, they don’t have their own specific Santa Claus either, as Christianity is still new to most Asian countries. I hope you enjoyed this little look into my family’s tradition and learned something new! Make sure to check out the Juststuff League podcast later this month to hear more about holiday collections!
