What Do You Get When You Whitewash the Three Kings? Santa Claus!

Hello Meltingpot Readers,

I was wondering… why in the United States does a jolly, old, white man in a red suit deliver presents on Christmas Day instead of the three Wise Men or the Three Kings as they’re also known? After all, Christmas is supposed to be a celebration of Jesus’ birthday.

So much of how we celebrate Christmas is a hodgepodge of customs and traditions from a variety of cultures, from the pagans to the Dutch. The figure of Santa Claus is in fact an amalgamation of a Turkish Monk, a Dutch tradition and Washington Irving’s literary imagination. Not to mention the need for retailers to create another opportunity for people to empty their bank accounts at the end of the year.

Meanwhile in Spain, Latin America and many Caribbean countries, for hundreds of years, Christmas gifts have been delivered by Gaspar, Balthazar and Melchior, aka the Three Kings. These guys represent the three kings who reportedly brought the baby Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh soon after his birth.

Because Racism

Now, if we’re going to go with the idea of celebrating Christmas as the birth of Jesus (which a majority of Americans do, even if it’s subconsciously) why don’t we maintain some continuity with that storyline and let the Three Kings bring the gifts? Why invent a fat, white man to take over the job of three admittedly wise men of color?

Could it be a simple case of racism and xenophobia?

Biblical scholars speculate that the Three Kings were from the Middle East and Africa so maybe that’s why Americas were reluctant to accept them. Maybe Americans didn’t like the idea of three men of color sneaking into their homes at night, even if it was just to leave presents for the kids.

3 Reasons Why We Need the Kings

If racism and xenophobia are the reasons why we don’t let the Three Kings do their jobs around the holidays, I think we should reconsider that notion. Here’s why:

1. If we replaced Santa with the Three Kings, men of all racial backgrounds could play a part at the office holiday parties,  family gatherings and even get temp work at the end of the year standing on street corners or sitting around at malls listening to small children demand gifts. And they wouldn’t have to worry about the Meghan Kelly’s of the world telling them they were the wrong color.
2. Multicultural Kings instead of Santa would mean children of all racial backgrounds would see their culture reflected in arguably the biggest holiday celebration in this country. 
3. Not everybody wants their children taking gifts from white men. The United States is so diverse and many people want their holidays to reflect that diversity. Given all the multicultural elements naturally baked into the Christmas story, not to mention all of the borrowing of bits and pieces of other cultural traditions we’ve already done around Christmas, swapping Santa back for the Three Wise men doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. 

What do you think, dear readers? Do you think Americans should invite the Three Kings into our holiday merry making? Do you think Santa is a whitewashed response to three wise men of color? If the Three Kings were the new official gift givers for Christmas, would Black Santa still be in business? 

So many questions. Does anybody have some answers? Leave me your thoughts because I’m taking notes. 

Peace!

(BTW, a version of this essay originally appeared on episode #2 of the My American Meltingpot podcast.)