Monday, December 15, 2008

Black Santa

So I’m in the mall in Nairobi, and it’s hot, and it’s Christmas time. I’m not used to hot Christmas. Inside the mall, there’s a Santa Claus sitting in a chair taking pictures with little children. Pretty standard practice for Santas at malls during the holidays. But, at least for me, that’s where the ordinary stopped. Santa was black (and presumably African), which is cool, just not something I would commonly see in the States. Then, this Muslim woman goes on stage so that the kids can take a picture with Santa. So there’s black Santa, two Muslim boys, and a Muslim woman wearing a burkha. Oh Kenya, how I enjoy thee. I wish I had a camera. That should either be the poster for religious tolerance/acceptance or confusion. I hope and suspect that it’s the former, but who knows these days.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Dude - I totally have a "Black Santa" X-mas tree ornament and Paul and I have a sing a little song called "Black Santa" (to the tune of "Dear Santa")...I'm so glad you finally found him. Anyway, there was no link to pics and that made me very sad. Please update or embed. O'Harra