From the Belleville News-Democrat story:
Children at Queen of Peace School in the southern Illinois town of Belleville misunderstood Bishop Edward Braxton's message about Santa Claus on Tuesday, the superintendent of schools for the Belleville Diocese said in a statement.
"I was quite surprised to learn that somehow some individuals incorrectly thought the bishop was going around the school telling little children that there is no Santa Claus. This is simply not true!" Jonathan Birdsong said in a statement Thursday afternoon. Birdsong was not immediately available for comment
Parents said their children came home in tears after Braxton's visit to the school Tuesday, having been told that there is no Santa Claus and that they should not celebrate Halloween.So what exactly did the poor bishop say?
Birdsong said the bishop had told the students that children in the past dressed as saints to celebrate Allhallows Eve and that "the good works of St. Nicholas was gradually changed into the story of Santa Claus."The parents are now up in arms and have taken to social media. More here.
I would note that the recipients of these pious legends were fifth and sixth graders. All I can say is, if children that age hadn't yet had any doubts sown as to the existence of Santa Claus, the network of heartless older siblings and neighborhood big-mouths must have deteriorated tremendously since I was a kid. I don't think I made it to Christmastime in second grade before one of my classmates from down the street taunted me (Ronald something-or-other; I thought he was my friend until that moment, and likely enough he was again by later that afternoon) as thinking the jolly old elf was real. After school that day, I confronted my mother down in the basement by the piano. To her credit (at least I think it was to her credit) she 'fessed up and swore me to secrecy for the sake of my younger siblings. I think that may have been my first taste of adulthood.
As a kid, I always found grown ups in costumes incredibly creepy. So did The Boy, so Santa was off our radar. Now, the Magic Advent Calendar ...
ReplyDeleteI would say it's time to burst the bubble on Santa if your kid is still a believer when he starts kindergarten. I took it upon myself to tell my brother when he was six. Loud crying and freaking out when I dragged him into the hall where he could see Dad putting the presents out. My mother was so mad that she threatened to run over all my presents with the car before my dad intervened.
Ah, happy holiday memories!
On the one hand, to teach children that Santa Claus exists, that he lives at the North Pole, that he brings presents at Christmas, and so on, is lying plain and simple. I can't see how it is justified. I do admit that many decades ago, when my niece was a little kid, I got a great deal of fun out of the whole business. I don't know what I would have done had I been a parent. But I think it's wrong to lie to kids like that.
ReplyDeleteIt fascinates me that there is this widespread cultural conspiracy to sustain the Santa Claus story line. Most adults and a lot of older children voluntarily take part in it. I can't immediately think of another example.
DeleteOn the other hand, when all kids believed in Santa Claus for awhile, there were darn few adults around who wouldn't be able to see through a blithering fat man raving about women and children a thousand miles away. Now, between helicopter mothers and parents who don't trust vaccines and Christians who think Satan walks on Halloween, almost any kid can grow up to buy a MAGA hat.
ReplyDeleteSo right, Tom. All the believers in Trumpy Claws are much more problematic.
DeleteI hope they weren't too hard on the bishop, social media can get kind of mean sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI was kind of a gullible little kid. One of my dad's friends must have played a pretty convincing Santa at a Christmas eve party hosted by my grandma. I was sure that I had seen him with my own eyes, and believed until I was in grade school.
Anybody else remember going to their school Christmas pageant, and getting a brown paper treat bag with peanuts in the shell, an orange or apple, and hard candy?
ReplyDeleteThe Santa Claus thing always seemed like a nice party thing to me. I don't know if I ever took it that seriously. I knew where the presents were hidden but didn't look too closely and kept my big mouth shut. Santa Claus was like another Superman character. Fun.
ReplyDeleteI believed everything. I still believe everything.
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