WHo The Hell is Santa Clause? lol

[Pumpkin]

Should we teach our kids about Santa?

[Auset]

I think it's good to teach kids about santa, it gives them a imagination as kids. I think when they are young enough to enjoy the thought of santa. I was taught that there wasn't a santa. I was raised in the church so Jesus is the reason for the season but at the same time I was confused in school when we had to write letters to santa. It was like I wanted to believe but my mother never practiced santa, easter bunny or halloween. It's always spend chirstmas in church, easter is about the ressurection and halloween is halejuiah night. And I understand the reasoning but I still felt left out of alot of things I remember writing a letter to santa and leaving the back door unlocked because we didn't have a chimney, I didn't get what I wanted so I knew it wasn't real then but it hurt me back then that all the lil white children on t.v. got their wishes. Hey it may sound silly but I'm just being real.

[Pumpkin]

Man I feel you. I look at it differently. I go out and spend my money and a white man in a red suit gets the credit for it. That is what bothers me. We struggle to make our children happy and this guy gets all the thanks for it

[Auset]

I think that it should be a way for the kids to believe in the majesticness of the season while the parents still get credit, like mommy bought it from santa, he's was the only one that had the toy. Ya mean?!

[slim]

I think should learn the REAL meaning of Christmas...the birth of Jesus...not just getting some toys...I knew there wasn't no santa... I was a youngsta...I had to be about 6...and I was staying in the PJ's and my best friend ain't get one toy...and my mom felt so bad...I asked my mom why ain't sants bring him no toys...and my mom..sat me down and broke it down...there is no santa...its a lil white lie...we teach our children not to lie to us...and when they tell us they seen the boogieman...we brush it off...because we KNOW there is no boogieman...and yet we lie to them...when there is no santa...

I tell my son...I'm santa...now ask ME what you want...

[Pumpkin]

To go with our topic ;D

[Auset]

That was the funniest thing I have ever read, that was off the hook!

[Pumpkin]

Santa will make me bust him up sending stuff to my kids like that ;D

[Auset]

yeah those are fighting words, if I was Suzzie I'd be on my way to the north pole with sneaks and vasaline on my face!

[joyluv]

Santa is George Bush in a fat suit...all the white folk get their toys while we wonder when we can get back to work to make up for shit we bought our kids for one day only.

[Simply_Uneque]

I teach my children the Religious aspect of Christmas. I also use it as an opportunity to reward my children for good behavior throughout most of the year and good report cards. Just a little something extra to say mommy appreciates all your hard work, just in case I forgot to tell you.

[KitaWita73]

When my sister and I were comin' along, our parents didn't really explain that there wasn't a Santa until I was maybe around 10 and my sister was 7. However, afterwards we were taught the real meanin' of the Christmas holiday.

When our brother came along, my parents decided that they would go ahead and explain the real reason for Christmas without havin' him think that there was a Santa Claus. He was around 5 when they explained this to him.

[MAJE]

hmmmm

who the hell is santa

why there is a santa..

and what other countries there are santas?


are there santas in england russia the netherlands jamaica

ps

the netherlands also has SINTERKLAAS (thats santa in the dutch translation)

they celebrate this on the 5th of december

this santa really has lived in the past century

wait i will copy and past the story

Sinterklaas in History

Did you know that it was Dutch Immigrants who brought the tradition of Santa Claus to the rest of the world? That's right! It all started waaaay back in the 4th Century when a Bishop in Turkey named St. Nicholas became widely known for his good deed with poor children in Europe. His feast day became known as the Celebration of Sinterklaas and was held on December 6. St. Nicholas is also known as the patron saint of Amsterdam. Many different versions of the story of Saint Nicholas are told but there are some common characters in each one. First is Saint Nick's companion Zwarte Piet. Some believe that Zwarte Piet was a black slave. This is not the case. Zwarte Piet is said to be a Turkish orphan that traveled as St. Nicholas' helper. His darker Turkish features must have seemed black to the fairer 4th Century Dutch. The second common character is Schimmel, St. Nicholas' fine white horse.


St. Nicholas is pictured in medieval and renaissance paintings as a tall, dignified man dressed in red vestments carrying a Bishop's golden crook. Zwarte Piet is depicted in garish Turkish garb with bright red lips and a gold earring. The legend describes St. Nicholas and Zwarte Piet traveling from their home in Spain across Europe helping the poor and bring food to children. Through the ages, the story of St. Nicholas astride his white horse with this helper Zwarte Piet grew into a tradition to celebrate the feast day on December 6th. St. Nicholas travels to Holland on a steam ship from Spain. He would leave in mid November and arrive on December 5th. Just in time to place small gifts and treats like pepernoten, chocolate initials, marzipan figures and fruit.In the past, St. Nicholas carried a Birch switch used to punish children who were naughty and Zwarte Piet was said to put bad children in his sack or would leave them a lump of coal in their shoes instead of treats. Today, St. Nicholas is portrayed as a more gentle figure and Zwarte Piet is a jokester.


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Sinterklaas comes to North America:



The tradition of St. Nicholas came to North America with Netherlands Protestant Settlers in New Amsterdam, now New York. At that time, the gift giving at the celebration of St. Nicholas' feast day was separate from the celebration of Christmas on December 25. It wasn't until the publication of "twas the Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clark Moore that Santa Claus as a "jolly old elf" with reindeer was born. The Santa Claus legend has helpers who are elves and also know "whose naughty and nice".


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Sinterklaas Today:



Today children in Holland still look forward to the arrival of St. Nicholas. Children are told that St. Nicholas is very busy and has many helpers who dress like him and Zwarte Piet so that no child is left out. Children place straw or carrots in their shoes for Schimmel and St. Nicholas replaces these with gifts and treats. Adults will also exchange gifts and usually attach a funny poem or verse. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is celebrated with family gatherings and meals rather than gifts. Although some Dutch people will exchange gifts at that time as well. Another part of the fun is how presents are hidden or disguised. Recipients often have to go on a teasure hunt all over the house, aided by hints, to look for them.

They must be prepared to dig their gifts out of the potato bin, to find them in a jello pudding, in a glove filled with wet sand, in some crazy dummy or doll. Working hard for your presents and working even harder to think up other peoples' presents and get them ready is what the fun is all about.

In other countries where there are people of Dutch heritage, the tradition of Sinterklaas lives on. In our town, St. Nicholas comes to visit with Zwarte Piet and children sit on his knee and are asked if they have been good. Zwarte Piet always tries to put one of the children in his sack, but always lets them wiggle out again. Treats of pepernoten or ginger snaps, chocolate and candy are given to each child. In many homes that tradition of exchanging chocolate initials of the first letter of each persons name is continued. And we look forward to all the treats available during Sinterklaas time like almond rings (rich pastry wrapped around almond filling) and marzipan (almond confectionary molded into fun shapes). This year, why don't you celebrate Sinterklaas with us. It is a fun family tradition for adults and kids alike.

ok the thing that botters me is the ZWART PIET thing

ok if ya read the history ya can understan
but not anybody knows the history
and i dont like to see that childeren see a black person to be a zwart piet
hmm how to explain this
peeps get stereo type images childeren get stereotype ideas wenn they see black peep

ya know wha i mean

oh maybe yall dont understand wha i mean
le me show yall the pics of sinterklaas and zwarte piet
then ya understand wha i mean






there is this link where somebody from the states wrote about it

check this link www.awfulgood.com/index.php




back in the days we (thats my peeps the hood where we live )
didnt celebrate this sinterklaas thing
and we did it our way
the zwarte piet wasnt black we did use all colors
purple yellow green etc
to make kids aware of color
the santa wasnt white he was colorfull
why is tha santa white???
so we did use colorfull thing
kids doesnt have to be afraid of a santa (white) or zwarte piet(black)

white kids if they see a zwarte piet they do are afraid of that person (black )
so after the holidays wenn they see a black person they are afraid
hmm
so thats why we did use the colorfull santa and his helpers
from bleu till green
it has to be a colorfull event
isnt it

[MAJE]

HMM WHO OR WHA IS THE HISTORY BEHIND THIS SIDEKICK OR HELPER OF SANTA??

Zwarte Piet

Zwarte Pieten are the helpers of Sinterklaas. About their history are lots of different stories. Some say he was an Etyopian slave, named Piter, who was set free thanks to Sint Nicolaas. He was very grateful and stayed with him to serve Sint Nicolaas. The Zwarte Piet that we know wears 16th century page-clothing, and a big brown bag to carry the presents. Pages were the personal servants of the elite. There are much more stories about the Zwarte Piet, but I will not bore you with all of them . Unfortunately some years ago a big discussion appeared about the fact that Zwarte Piet has a black skin ("zwart" is Dutch for black). Sinterklaas would have black slaves and that would be racism. Some people might think so, but in my opinion we're talking about a tradion which has noting to do with current slavery. But because of this story, children are told that their black skin is due to the fact that Zwarte Piet jumps into chimneys to deliver the packages, and that nobody know what their real skincolour is.

Black Pete
Seen from a historical perspective, Black Pete, or as the Dutch call him 'Zwarte Piet', is not so old yet: the Amsterdam schoolteacher Jan Schenkman invented him and gave him an important place in the first real Saint Nicholas-book (see also Saint Nicholas) known in The Netherlands, named 'Saint Nicolas and its servant' (ca. 1850). On the pictures in this book we can see the black servant as we still know him today: a darkcolored young man, dressed in a 16th-century page-costume.
(Black Pete is dressed in the clothes of a 16th-century page. Pages were the personal servants of highranking gentlemen like dukes and prinses. So Black Pete's suit actually is a "pagesuit".)
Schenkman has no name for this servant; he consequently speaks of 'his servant' ('His servant is laughing and calls upon us' is a well know Saint Nicholas-song-title). In Saint Nicholas-books of around 1870-1891 this servant is also called 'Moortje', 'Pikkie', 'Ruprecht', or 'Karel'(!).

We find the name Black Pete for the first time in a Saint Nicholas-book of 1891. In the years around 1920 the servant is sometimes called Black John (or in Dutch "Zwarte Jan'). Other names are 'Trabadoelie', 'Rodrigo', and 'Antonio'.
Development
Black Pete clearly went through a development in terms of behaviour, charisma and function. This can be concluded from old newspaper-articles, human reminisce and Saint Nicholas-books.
Around 1850 Pete was a gruff figure, who threatened bad boys with a rod or spanking; put the worst rascals in a bag and took them along. This behaviour was shown untill the years around 1940. This behaviour slowly changed, because of a change in the pedagogue ideas. Frightening and severe punishment were abolished and thus Black Pete had to adapt, especially after around 1960. He gradually changed into a helpful servant, treating childrensfriend, agile acrobat and/or silly clown. Gradually different kinds of Pete's appear: the Main-Pete, the Road-Leading-Pete, the Packaging-Pete, the Rhyme-Pete etc.
Pete-behaviour
The National Saint Nicholas Comittee Foundation consider it of essential importance, that a Black Pete wears correct make-up and is correctly dressed. His main concern is to take care of the fact that the smallest 'believers' feel at ease and receive a treat. A rod is not necessarily required, but a dark colored skin is. Yellow-, green- or multi-colored Petes do not fit into our Saint Nicholas tradition and only confuse believing infants. In case the little ones are really afraid of Black Pete, his attitude has to be very reserved.

A good Pete can be recognized from its clothes (especially its shoes), appearance (added make-up), behaviour (little believers come first), speach (no 'funny' talking), entertain the waiting youth (with music, songs, acrobatic acts etc.), and the social appearance towards the elderly, sick, etc. (visiting nursery homes, hospitals, institutions for the handicapped etc.).

from other website and stories i read that they really dont know what color black pete really has
because of his job in the chympnie he became darker and darker so nobody really knows his color
and for some it doesnt matter what color he has

ok
hmmmmmmmmm
e.

[MAJE]

Legend has Zwarte Piet as either originally a slave from Turkey or a boy from Spain (legend differs here, too) who traveled with Sinterklaas. One of his duties was to carry the heavy Children's Name Book that told Sinterklaas whether they were good or bad. Piet carries the bag of toys and it is also said that the bag was for the bad children to be stuffed in to so they could be carried back to Spain. Zwarte Piet wears 17th century velvet clothing made of bright colors and the starched color that is typical among the early Dutch noblemen. Legends differ also about why Zwarte Piet is black. One says that it's because he was originally a slave from Turkey and the other says that it's because it's him that goes down the chimney with the presents.

ok peeps at work and at my school
do think i am acting stupid about this black pete thing

i dont think i am acting weird

i say its my black awarness just being proud to know who i am where i come from and dont wanna to be compare with a black pete or what eva

since last year i celebrate with this santa thing
noo
its just giving each other presents
there are no santas or petes in the building
but i just participate only to show them that ya can celebrate this event without a santa or a pete

aaw whateva
its so difficult to explain this to my coworkers
but hey they dont feel how i feel about this

hmm
see ya
e.