Jesus was Black, Santa Claus was Middle Eastern Arab Brown, and Megyn Kelly is ignorant

December 18, 2013 / Posted in  Christmas, Church history, Interpretation, Investigation, Jesus Christ, Old Testament

 Contents

1. Jesus

2. Santa Claus

3. Megyn Kelly

4. Bibliography

5. End Notes

 

Jesus

When little children enter into Sunday school classrooms, dressed with smiles and bows, gleaming bright eyes and eager inquisitive minds, they see a plastic patented present-day image of a young white male with long light-brown hair, glistening eyes, and a cherubic smile. He is lean, taller than the people around him, and usually has blue eyes—the ideal of white supremacists from the dark days of Pope Leo “the Great” (by curial, not popular, decision) whose infatuation with the Briton slaves ¹ offered for sale in Rome in the fourth century.  When he asked the children where they were from, they responded, according to legend, Anglia. Hearing that word, the pontiff declared that they were Angles.

While Pope Leo I (c. 390–461) delighted in their blond/blonde hair and blue eyes, he feared the Anglo slaves would “pollute” religion.  The Bible sanctioned slavery and cautioned those who owned slaves to fear the slaves would infest them with ungodliness and disease.  Leo argued that if slaves were allowed to take Holy Orders and become part of the priestly class.² Leo transmogrified the word αγγελιοφόροι that for centuries meant messengers, as it did in Hebrew (שליחים), into a token of heavenly beings/creatures (היצורים השמימיים).

Leo’s fear of slaves, buttressed by the predatory Paulinity of emerging Christianity (Genesis 9:25 was frequently cited as justification for slavery) was confusing to him if all people were equal in heaven (Colossians 3:11), why were not all people equal on earth.³ This transmogrification over the dignity and rights of the person was yet one more capstone put over the dwindling light of the past to usher in what later historians referred to as the descent of darkness over the epoch of mortal history: from the Holocaust waged by ancient Jews against their neighbors, lasting into the Third Reich in NAZI Germany and becoming the midnight black of today’s hate groups from the Khristian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan to the Aryan Nation both bile and perdition spilling every where throughout the USA. They are joined in heart, hand, and handguns and other weapons from neo-NAZI groups in Sweden, Hungary, India, Germany, Norway, Peru, and around the globe, to segregation and human rights denial in the Supreme Courts from India to the USA, Russia to Nigeria and northern Africa.

Christians, from 325 CE to the present, have used the writings attributed to Paul to justify slavery, torture, and punishment for those who disobey or question their master(s). It is from the vitriol of Paul and his tenet congratulating slavery and urging slaves to remain docile until they enter the heaven that few new of in a day when death meant a final rest. The church and churchmen conjured their corporal anger into giving “naughty girls and boys” a lump of coal in their stockings (yet this would have been seen as a reward in the nineteenth century where coal was dearly priced and hard to come by without great and underpaid labor).⁴

While there is no historical evidence for a Jesus artificially surnamed Christ, a word that came from Sanskrit for a Hindu god: Krishna (कृष्णा),⁵ various theological musings, from Augustine of Hippo to Ignatius of Antioch, attempted to fashion a being many, such as the followers of Sabellius (fl. c. 217– c. 220) who taught that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are different modes or aspects of one God,  or Donatists (named for the Berber Christian bishop Donatus Magnus, also known as Donatus the Great Casae Nigrae who condemned clergy and faithful unwilling to be martyrs, died in exile in 355 CE with their expulsion being crafted by the same people they condemned as not being genuine followers of Christ) who believed in sanctity as requisite for church membership and administration of all sacraments, rejected as either not man or not the son of god. It is not until the bible that appears after 380 CE that Jesus takes form–yet even Eusebius fifty copies to the Eastern churches does not give an exact description of this rabbi (רַבִּי a word that means teacher).

Megyn Kelly’s unvarnished exposure of her total illiteracy in all things historical and biblical came to the foreground in a racist rant on Friday, December  13, 2013, when she claimed there was irrefutable proof that Jesus and Santa Claus were, and have always been, white guys.  Megyn’s attack on the historicity of the Jewish race from which Jesus of the New Testament emerges illustrates her incompetence in even basic biblical understanding.

The Bible states that Jesus is from the House of David: Malkhut Beit David (מלכות בית דוד) — “Royal House of David”). David is described in the Old Testament as “was ruddy, and with beautiful eyes”⁶ The actual lineage of Jesus through David is even questioned in the Bible.⁷  The existence of a Davidic line does not occur until the erection of the Tel Dan Stele (c. 850–835 BC).  It contains the phrase ביתדוד (bytdwd), that is to be read as “House of David”. The inscription makes no claim that there was a real man known as David.

Of the children born to David, the most important are Nathan and his brother Solomon (שְׁלֹמֹה) who had 700 wives⁸ and numerous children by them and by his more than 300 concubines.  The Ethiopian account (Kebra Nagast)⁹ reads that the Queen of Sheba had sexual relations with King Solomon (of which the Biblical and Quranic accounts give no hint) and gave birth by the Mai Bella stream in the province of Hamasien, Eritrea. The child was Black. This account is neither found in any post-Nicaea record nor was it accepted by the Emperor Constantine I who commissioned the writing of the bibles that came after the Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus.

Solomon was neither a saint nor a good man.¹⁰  He not only cavorted with “unjust women” but was hated for charging usurious taxes¹¹ amounting to 666 gold talents (the foundation for the numerology of evil in John of Patmos’ Apocalypse.], bringing in chariots and horses from Egypt forbidden by Moses and those who followed Moses,¹² and consorting with the temple prostitutes in his worship of Asherah/Ashtoreth. Most of life and reign was that of a scamp and knave.  Solomon is allegorical: a representation of the lusty god of the heathens known as Apollo; his fate, decisions, life, and family problems can all be traced to ancient Greek and Roman legends.  His existence and his Temple are in open dispute.

Solomon’s collection of tithes totaling 666 gold talents is representative, numerologically, of Rome and of a beast of hell who stole from the poor to increase his own image. It is replayed in the Apocalypse of John of Patmos, yet Church Fathers and later Islam forbade anyone from making the comparison. The yearly gathering of this tax was spent on more women, and projects that few enjoyed for the alleged Temple of Solomon was open only to himself, his priests, and their god(s).

Solomon’s wives included Black women: from foreign nations as far as what is today Kenya, and from the tribes around the land called Israel.  His mother was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, a Hittite general in the pay of David who would have him killed.  Bathsheba gave birth to four sons: the first son who Shimea, died after birth, the second was Solomon, followed by Nathan, and Shobab (1 Chronicles 3:5). While David’s adultery is well known among Jews, Christians and Muslims, Islam forbids the mention of it: “عن سعيد بن المسيب أن علي بن أبي طالب كرم اللّه تعالى وجهه قال: «من حدثكم بحديث داود على ما يرويه القصّاص جلدته مائة و ستين(جلّدته مائة جلدة مضاعفا) و هو حد الفرية على الأنبياء»” (Tafsir al-Kabir, al-Razi, vol 26, p 379; Ruh al-Ma’ani, vol 12, p 178; Tafsir al-Muraghi, vol 23, p 111).   Since the Hittites were from the land known to today as Turkey, located in the southern region, there exists many carvings of what their mercenary warriors looked like.  It was the Hittite empire that employed Apiru (early Hebrews) mercenaries to strengthen their forces.

Hittites were Moschians from Cappadocia and considered descendants of Ham, and called Black (2 Samuel 11). The Hittites were considered “most beautiful and exotic” giving reason for David’s lust after he banished his first wife, Michel, from his bed and ordered the murder of Uriah to satisfy his sexual passion for intercourse with the Hittite’s wife: Bathsheba. From this lineage, by most reckonings, Jesus was born with Black DNA.

Despite the legends, there is next to no historical evidence for the existence of Solomon or his dynasty or those who followed claiming to be of his lineage.¹³  There is no foundation for Solomon’s Temple,¹⁴ although it is one of the sources claimed for the commissioning of the Knights Templar since it allegedly contained “a great treasure”—sometimes seen as unlimited inventories of gold and other precious materials and stones, while for others the seat of the power of god: either within the Ark that no one has seen (although Ethiopia claims to have it but refuses to let anyone to view it) or the “vessel” of god: the wife of Jesus: Mary Magdalene within whom the Blood Royal (Sangreal an Old French word; today it would be sangroyal, giving birth to the legend of san graal or san gréal that means “Holy Grail”.)

Solomon had a younger brother: Nathan (נתן).  Like Solomon, Nathan was a product of the union of David and Bathsheba.  There is very little we know about Nathan (he was not the prophet in the Old Testament). The works of Rudolph Steiner (born February 27, 1861 in Kraljevic, Austria and died March 30, 1925 in Nornach, Switzerland) are at best conjectures with little substance, as the Solomon and Nathan he describes as living at the same time in Israel: “the Nathan parents lived in Nazareth and the Solomon parents lived in Bethlehem” have no historical support.

The Gospel according to Luke traces Jesus’ lineage back to David through Nathan who was a prophet and not as carnal and evil as Solomon.¹⁵  Luke claims that Mary the mother of Jesus was the descendant of David through Nathan,¹⁶ and that her earthly husband (by some accounts a young Roman soldier as there is no evidence of Joseph being an old man nor stepfather), did not provide the royal blood line for a warrior-leader (messiah). Nathan the son of David was not David’s prophet by the same name.  To claim that the Solomon line is the line to Jesus ignores the curse put on it by the prophet Jeremiah.¹⁷ There is no record, anywhere, that Nathan had children, and thus was unable to establish a bloodline.”

If the Jesus of the Constantine approved gospels did look like the modern artistic myth, he would have looked very different from everyone else in the region where Jesus lived and ministered. The popular image contemporary in today’s houses would have brought shudders of horror and fear that Giants who were sons of gods¹⁸ were once more roaming the earth in quest of Daughters of Men¹⁹ would give birth to additional Nephilim.²⁰ to breed and create a second race to cover the slaughter of Noah and his god. A reality of a light skinned, fair haired male would, assuredly, have been reported by the gospel writers—but no such startling structure or coloration was ever attributed to the man who walked with twelve other men, ate with tax collectors and public piranhas. Such an appearance would have sent young girls fleeing in terror and children screaming in fear.

There is no mention of such a being as Megyn Kelly menacingly minced on Fox Network News.  On the contrary, according to the Gospel of Matthew that was based on the older Gospel of Mark that all gospel writers used as their foundation source, made no mention of a white Jesus.  Even in the gospels that were later termed either apocrypha or were deliberately burned by the 250-318 bishops (out of more than 1800 who had been summoned to Nicaea by the Emperor Constantine I in 325 CE), are silent.

No light blond/blonde people with blue eyes were yet recorded by any Christian apologist. Their silence is strong testimony that the Jesus of Constantine’s new religion of Paulinity, saw Jesus the Jew like any other Jew who lived nearly two thousand years ago.  He was swarthy and dark skinned like other men of Galilee.  This is easily attested to when Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane before the Crucifixion. Not only did Jesus walk out of the garden followed by a naked youth (Mark 14:51), that itself would have raised questions as nudity was neither customary nor acceptable, but there is no recorded distraction or attempt to capture the young male.  What did happen, according to the gospel account is that Judas Iscariot had to indicate to the soldiers whom Jesus was because they could not tell him apart from his disciples.

Not only is there no record of what Jesus looked like to be found in any tract, gospel, or letter of the current canon of the New Testament (not even in the Codex Sinaiticus or Codex Vaticanus, the earliest bibles written before Eusebius’ imperial edition at the end of the fourth century CE), but no drawings of him have ever been uncovered.  This should be no surprise, as devout Jews eschewed any image as an offense against the god of Moses. At most a person might find graffiti, but there is no graffiti that recounts or illustrates a white Jesus.

There is the additional problem of having neither a skeleton nor other bodily remains to probe for DNA, not even on the discredited Shroud of Turin, that centuries the Roman Catholic Church has refused to be scientifically examined: it was trotted out only on special religious holidays and no one was permitted to touch it. The shroud itself is unbiblical, as dead bodies were wrapped, not covered, and the Shroud is the alleged image of an entire man who had not be wrapped as was the custom that originated in ancient Egypt.

Mark 15:46 does not use the word sheet. Mark 15:46 reads “strips of cloth”—and is only mistranslated later when the Church pushed to ascend to a higher power over the empire: και αγορασας σινδονα και καθελων αυτον ενειλησεν τη σινδονι και κατεθηκεν αυτον εν μνημειω ο ην λελατομημενον εκ πετρας και προσεκυλισεν λιθον επι την θυραν του μνημειου. Lenski, in commenting on Luke 23:53, says, “Like Matthew and Mark, Luke says only that the body was wrapped in sindown, cloth of fine linen which was torn into long strips for the purpose of wrapping it around the limbs and the body. John speaks of these othonia or bands, between which the aromatic spices were sprinkled as they were being wrapped. Only the head was left free to be covered with a special cloth after the body had been deposited in the tomb”. ²¹

In the absence of evidence, images of Jesus have been left to the imagination of artists. The influences of the artists’ cultures and traditions are seen in every illustration from painted icons to marble statues and iron castings.²² As Carlos F. Cardoza-Orlandi, associate professor of world Christianity at Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia, USA,²³ observed: “While Western imagery is dominant, in other parts of the world he is often shown as black, Arab or Hispanic.”

What did Jesus look like? No one truly knows any more than any scholar will affirm that the life, existence or post-death experience of Jesus can be verified scientifically or found in eye witness accounts of nonbelievers and skeptics at the time the incidents allegedly took place. Even the Bible does not depict, describe, or detail a blond or fair-haired blue-eyed Nordic god who was hailed as a Teacher, or venerated as a son of god.  Instead, in the Book of  Revelations, it is written: “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire”²⁴, but wools hair does not resemble the long flowing European hair, and red eyes were reserved for fire-breathing dragons that are the substance of fantasies.

The absence of information concerning the physical features and the actual words of Jesus, if he even lived, has fueled investigation and research in the relatively new science of forensic anthropology. Using methods similar to those police have developed to solve crimes, British scientists, assisted by Israeli archeologists, have re-created what they believe is the most accurate image of the most famous face in human history.²⁵  This is as close as science can come to a realistic image of Jesus at this time:

 

Santa Claus

A similar quandary occurs with the legend of Santa Claus.  The name and the man are fantasies. They were ancient stories from the fourth century meant to instill in small children a sense of peace, anticipation, expectation and reverence for parents and siblings in anticipation of gifts, if they are good and not naughty.  They are not written down until the modern age, but now exist in most languages and continue to evolve in most nations.

The life of Saint Nicholas of Turkey has been tied, twisted, and tarnished over the years.  Little of the original man exists.  What is left, on which so many myths mature, is the charitable acts of an eastern Greek (now Turkey) bishop known as Nicholas (Áγιος Νικόλαος, Hagios Nikólaos) of Myra (Turkey).  He has been styled a Wonderworker (Νικόλαος ỏ Θαυματουργός, Nikolaos ho Thaumaturgos), whose generosity to poor girls became legendary.  Nicholas would slip out of his monastic cell late at night and take small purses of money to the home of poor girls so that they would have a dowry and could marry. This led to gift-giving: usually the presentation of a hock of pork or leg of lamb, some potatoes, and bread. It gave way to more extravagant gifts, wrapped gaily in colored paper. In time, the gifts were costly and today are heralds of the Macy Season, with no remembrance of the original design or importance.

The charitable act of the Turkish bishop has degenerated into commercialization not only by merchants and vendors, but more so by predatory pastors, preachers, priests and patriarchs listening to the sound of coin and bill being dropped into collection plates to further unnecessary building of monuments to a dead god and religion.  The issue of gift-giving has incorporated many elements of the Germanic god Odin, who had, on December 25, the name jólfaðr (Old Norse ‘Yule father’).  He became Father Christmas or in Spanish Papa Noel, and the Anglo-Saxon Modranicht, who was associated with the pagan midwinter festival of Yule (that were actually the names of Germanic months (Ærra Jéola (Before Yule) or Jiuli and Æftera Jéola (After Yule). Originally he led the Wild Hunt in a ghostly procession²⁶ Oskoreia or Åsgårdsreia (originally oskurreia) (Norwegian: “noisy riders”, “The Ride of Asgard”), divja jaga, meaning “the wild hunting party” or “wild hunt,²⁷ but this was tamed down with a jolly and fat old man with flowing white hair get into a sleigh pulled by reindeer to visit all the children of the world in one short night–usually forgetting the poor and starving in India, Somalia, New York City, Moscow, and other poverty centers where wealth is hung by the fireplaces of the rich as those without cannot find bread to eat while Santa Claus stuffs his belly with cookies and milk left out as bribes for presents–regardless if the children had been good or bad.

Originally, Christmas and Father Christmas had antecedents to the terrorist tale of Armageddon by the insane vagabond John of Patmos, with Nordic kings riding through the sky who devolved into a crazed Claus driving a large sleigh pulled by magical tiny reindeer instead of commanding charging steads.  Yuletide did not have a Christian meaning or acceptance before 1475 CE.²⁸ Yuletide does not become Christian until King Haakon I of Norway forced Christianity on unwilling subjects after he was exposed as becoming a Christian in exchange for gold from the emerging Constantinian church.

The exposure of Haakon’s fraud led to the king’s declaration that the Yule festival would be celebrated at the same time as the Christians celebrated Christmas or “pay fines … and to keep the holiday while the ale lasted.”²⁹ Ale and other strong beverages were the elixir for achieving some form of a union with gods who warred among themselves and left mortals alone.  Mortals were the ones who gave charity of their free will and not required to obtain any form of eternal life or to be remembered in recitations of those who live on after their deaths.  The Asatru, or Old Believers, found themselves unique and rigidly opposed the introduction of pagan Christianity that was stained with the blood of those who opposed them.

The trained reader can instantly see where Christianity adopted many of the rituals and practices of pagans, turning many of their gods into saints, and were as universal as Korochun and Koleda (Kolidia). Korochun and Koleda are two old Slavic pagan rituals/holidays during the winter festival from the night of 24/25 December to 6 January, where their ancient Slavic goddess Baba Yaga, a wild old crone guardian of the future who enables mortals to examine their dark side so that they can hope to be reborn, was born of a virgin and visited by old men of wisdom.

The Church, in an effort to gain more illiterate adherents, invented most of its ritual and nearly all of its theology based on piracy of other ontology and theologies, theogony, theosophy, rogue religiosity, and so forth, with no thought of the merest comforts for those in want. It continues to do so today.  Instead of a kindly old man helping those in need, Santa Claus has become the poster image for greed, clogging arteries with fatty foods, drink junk beverages, buying lavish presents, and ignoring the disappearing climate, pollution of the planet, and the want that is everywhere while a few build homes bigger than they or their family could ever use. The Norsemen had their own system of belief with Frigga and Odin, Tyr and Loki, Sif and Thor, Freya and Baldur and a faith far superior to Christianity that took over the Norse because of well-placed bribes among venal rulers.  Lithuania is one case in point: Lithuania was officially first Christianized in 1251 but soon renounced Christianity in 1263. After more than hundred years, in 1387, Lithuania was Christianized again. But for a long time the new religion retained only a superficial hold on the population, which remained “stubbornly pagan.” Church chronicles over the centuries reported staunch resistance to Christianity among Lithuanians. The last Pagan temple in the capital Vilnius was closed only at the end of the 18th century.

Fortunately, modern forensic anthropology has developed tools to help discover what people looked like, discarding the masques of faith and hortatory hysteria that still enchains popular myths to the devolution of education. The techniques of forensic anthropology are primarily used to assist in identifying unknown crime victims and cadavers left unclaimed and showing no criminal attack. However, they can be used also for historic personages, as with Richard III of England,³⁰ when there is access to the right information. Normally, this would be skeletal remains, including the skull.

The historic bishop Nicholas has remains that have been tested by forensic experts. St. Nicholas’ remains are buried in the crypt of the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, Italy, but were temporarily removed when the crypt was repaired during the 1950s. At the Vatican’s request, anatomy professor Luigi Martino from the University of Bari, took thousands of minutely-detailed measurements and x-ray photographs (roentgenography) of the skull and other bones. The game was afoot, as Sherlock Holmes would intone, and the dice was cast.  At last there would be, if fate played well, a real image of the man that Fox News broadcasters claimed was Caucasian, fat, and old with flowing white hair.

The current professor of forensic pathology at the University of Bari, Francesco Introna, knew advancements in diagnostic technique could yield much more from the data gathered in the 1950s. To learn more about the remains and the person to whom they originally belong, Introna engaged an expert facial anthropologist, Caroline Wilkinson,³¹ at the University of Manchester in England, to construct a model of the saint’s head from the earlier measurements.

Using this data, the medical artist used state-of-the-art computer software to develop the model of St. Nicholas. The virtual clay was sculpted on screen using a special tool that allows one to “feel” the clay as it is molded. Dr. Wilkinson says, “In theory you could do the same thing with real clay, but it’s much easier, far less time-consuming and more reliable to do it on a computer.”

After inferring the size and shape of facial muscles—there are around twenty-six—from the skull data, the muscles are pinned onto the virtual skull, stretched into position, and covered with a layer of skin. “The muscles connect in the same place on everyone, but because skulls vary in shape, a different face develops,” Wilkinson comments. The tangents from different parts of the nasal cavity determine the length of a nose. This was difficult because St. Nicholas’ nose had been badly broken. “It must have been a very hefty blow because it’s the nasal bones between the eyes that are broken,” she continued. Santa’s nose was badly broken. “It must have been a very hefty blow because it’s the nasal bones between the eyes that are broken,” says Wilkinson. Quite how St. Nicholas got his injury is a mystery, but Wilkinson says tales abound of Santa being something of a rebel. “I heard he once punched a bishop,” she says.³²

Popular legend has the bishop a roister, eager for a fight and given to battle to avenge a wrong or bring home a point regardless if he was attacking a robber, would-be rapist or bishop. Faithful apologists for the bishop declaim the idea that the bishop was given to violent assaults and argue that Nicholas’ nose was broken when he imprisoned and tortured during the alleged persecution³³ of Christians under Roman Emperors on February 24, 303. Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding the legal rights of Christians and demanding that they comply with traditional Roman religious practices, later targeted the clergy and demanded universal sacrifice to the imperial gods.

The persecution varied in intensity across the empire with the strongest pogroms in the Eastern provinces, and in most cases was justified in the name of defending the faith.³⁴ The Christian violence against non-Christians, apostates and heretics was justified by citing biblical references, such as Matthew 10:34 and 21:12-13 and 31:41-42; Deuteronomy 32:35; Revelation 19. That there are two versions of what Jesus (the pacifist ³⁵; yet this is not chronicled in Mark that is the oldest source for the other three Imperial Constantine approved gospels.³⁶ and the provocateur of violence said indicates either there were two Jesus’ in the New Testament, or that Jesus was schizophrenic.

The official persecution lasted only three years, with Constantine restoring full legal equality to Christians in 306 in exchange for the support of religious leaders. The Edict of Milan (313 CE) made Christianity legal and brought an end to persecutions in the East that saw a rise in “the cult of martyrs”,³⁷ that troubled Constantine, keeping him from becoming a Christian and dying a pagan although the Arian Bishop Eusebius baptized him when the emperor breathed his last: to be declared a god in Rome and a saint in the Eastern church. He was declared both god and saint.

Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, Papa Noel, and simply “Santa”),³⁸  derived from the Dutch legend who swiftly took hold of the minds of  young and old mines who toiled day and night for the luxury of a few who had no spirit of sharing within their speech or actions, as none were Sinterklaas,³⁹, Holland: Wolters-Noordhoff. Franke, S; van Bergen, L. & Marée, Piet (1932). Sinterklass. Den Haag, Nederland: G. B. van Goor Zonen.] a whimsical character who became part of the popular culture in poor countries or where there were masses of poorly paid people digging coal or doing menial work.  This is found everywhere from England⁴⁰ to Italy,⁴¹ Germany,⁴² France,⁴³ Russia ⁴⁴ Norway, ⁴⁵ Romania,⁴⁶ Denmark, ⁴⁷ Brasil,⁴⁸ but with variations and beyond.

Santa Clause became popular in the United States and Canada in the 19th century due to the significant influence of Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” It quickly was printed into a book and went international. Children loved it and waited breathlessly for the fat old man to come down a chimney–even in houses where there were no chimneys–to leave presents and feed on food set out for the jolly fellow and his troop of little elves who made toys in a merry factory at the top of the world: the North Pole that was heralded with a large red and white candy cane and other sweets for those who were good and the proverbial lump of cold for those who did not obey their parents or elders, talked back and sought personal independence–with a promise that they would be watched more carefully in the coming year.

Moore’s classic went from the USA to France, and swiftly blanked Europe embellishing the myth that Saint Nicholas was fat, had white hair and blue eyes: the typical “Aryan” longed for by Adolf Hitler and Megyn Kelly. Each nation that printed the famed poem used illustrations in keeping with its own culture and customs.  The Santas varied in facial features and colors, the clothing took on local design and wear, and what was left out for Santa’s consumption matched that beverage common in the country he visited: becoming a universal symbol of sharing and fired imagination.  None of this was lost on industries, stores, or markets and foods. It even inspired Coca-Cola advertisements for generations, yet there is no evidence that this Santa was the jolly soul of nineteenth century legend made famous by Coca-Cola. Overnight everything that was good was associated with Santa Claus–and Coca-Cola–an elixir that was originally considered a medicinal form of pain relief and quickly became a drink for all ages once it was associated with Santa Claus. Coca-Cola was named back in 1885 for its two “medicinal” ingredients: extract of coca leaves and kola nuts. A 1902 advertisement ran:

TIRED? THEN DRINK Coca-Cola
IT RELIEVES EXHAUSTION
When the BRAIN is running under full pressure, send down to the FOUNTAIN for a glass of
Coca-Cola
you will be surprized how quickly it will ease the Tired Brain — soothe the Rattled Nerves and
restore Wasted Energy to both Mind and Body.
It enables the entire system to readily cope with the strain of any excessive demands made upon it.⁴⁹

As the controversy rose and papers were printed, the Roman and Greek churches wanted verification of Nicholas. Professor Caroline Wilkinson, an anthropologist based at the University of Dundee,⁵⁰ was invited to unravel the mystery.  She detailed her work:

“We used clay on the screen that you can feel but not physically touch. It was very exciting. We did not have the physical skull, so we had to recreate it from two-dimensional data. We are bound to have lost some of the level of detail you would get by working from photographs, but we believe this is the closest we are ever going to get to him.”

The three-dimensional image next went to Image Foundry Studios where a digital artist added detail and color to the model. This gave it Greek Mediterranean olive-toned skin, brown eyes, and grey hair and beard, trimmed in 4th century fashion.

The result of the project is the image of a Greek man, living in Asia Minor (part of the Greek Byzantine Empire), about 60-years old, 5-feet 6-inches tall, who had a heavy jaw and a broken nose. That his nose was broken is commonly attributed to the time when Nicholas was imprisoned and tortured during the persecution of Christians under Roman Emperor Diocletian.⁵¹ This is safe theology and ideology, but it does not address the continuing violence in the emerging church, especially in what is today known as Turkey, especially concerning the “voting for god”⁵² that divided the Council of Nicaea and later eastern council of Constantine’s church, especially in the fifth century,⁵³ that argued, shouted, screamed, and engaged in fisticuffs as well as open warfare against non-coordinating or dissenting “heresies”. Mediterranean people were not tall, giving the lie to the creature under the fabricated fairy tale of the Shroud of Turin. The church needed a buttressing force, and Nicholas proved to be the one that could rally people together in peace, at Christmas.⁵⁴  Here is the original Saint Nicholas:

Megyn Kelly

It would be interesting to see what history says about Megyn Kelly (born November 18, 1970). Her real surname was Kendall, before reverting to her maiden name.⁵⁵ Based on her name (that is Hungarian in origin), a person could easily conjecture that the individual was engaged in obstetrics (Szülészet: me-gyn) or gynecology, and male by gender (kelly). Kelly’s defense of her racist statements is easily interpreted as being a person without any investigative or research skills, unable to think independently and critically, and without the ability to draw logical conclusions based on evidence, even though she took a degree in law from Albany Law School in 1995.

Megyn had a baby boy during her second marriage. She continues to use her stage name, and has built up a reputation as a firebrand conservative with little reasoning skill or critical analysis.  Her commentaries are more like court room dramas, and objectivity, as in any court room, does not exist.  Her goal is to persuade, not present fact, encourage debate, or bring to the foreground what is.

Kelly’s most infamous misjudgment and misstatement occurred on December 13, 2013, when she declared that “facts” proved Jesus and Santa Claus were white. Megyn decried the uproar she caused with her statement, claiming in response penned by Fox News that she was just joking about Santa being white.  However, the actual/exact quote by Megyn Kelly is:

“For all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white, but this person is just arguing that maybe we should also have a black Santa. But Santa is what he is, and just so you know, we’re just debating this because someone wrote about it.”⁵⁶

 

Bibliography

Aleksova, Blaga (1997). Loca sanctorum Macedoniae: the cult of martyrs in Macedonia from the 4^th to the 9^th centuries. Prilep: Institute for Old Slav Culture; Skopje: Macedonian Civilization.

Ames, Donald P. (1984). “The Shroud of Turin.” Guardian of Truth (April 19) Vol. XXVIII: 8, pp. 240-241.

Archer, Gleason L. (1982), Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, Grand Rapids, Mich. : Zondervan Pub. House.

Auchmutey, Jim (December 10, 2007). Coke denies claims it bottled familiar Santa image. Rocky Mountain News, December 10, 2007.

Baeten, Marja et al. (2012). Sinterklaas. Houten [etc.], Holland: Wolters-Noordhoff.

Barton, George A. (1967). “Temple of Solomon”. Jewish Encyclopedia 215 (5105). New York, NY.: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 98–101.

Baum, Lyman Frank & Oeser, Hans-Christian (2010). Der Weihnactsmann oder des abenteuerliche Leben des Santa Claus: mit der Erzählung. Berlin, Deutschland: Insel-Verlag.

Bowler, Gerry, (2007). Santa Claus: A Biography, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Limited.

Brewster, Quinn (1996), “The Structure of the Book of Mormon: A Theory of Evolutionary Development”, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 29 (2): 109–140.

Cardoza-Orlandi, Carlos F. (2009). “‘The Americas: Central and South America: Afro-Cuban Theology: Religion, Race, Culture and Theology’ by Michelle A. Gonzales” review in Religious Studies Review. Vol. 35, No. 2 (June): 136.

Corentin, Philippe & Morpurgo, Anna (2001). Babbo Natale e le formiche. Milano: Babalibri.

Csepregi, Ildikó; Marinković, Ana; Vedriš, Trpimir; Croatian Hagiography Society, Hagiotheca. (2010). Identity and alterity in hagiography and the cult of saints. Zagreb, Croatia: Hagiotheca.

Cucu-Oancea, Ozana & Bădescu, Ilie (2006). De la Moș Gerilă la Santa Claus : o privire sociologică asupra Crăciunului. Bucuresti (Romania): Editura Semne.

Dickens, Charles. (1843). A Christmas Carol: in prose: being a ghost story of Christmas. London, England: Chapman & Hall.

English, Adam C. (2012), The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus: The True Life and Trials of Nicholas of Myra. Waco, TX, USA: Baylor University Press.

Ford, J. Massyngberde (1984). My enemy is my guest: Jesus and violence in Luke. Maryknoll, NY, USA: Orbis Books.

Franke, S; van Bergen, L. & Marée, Piet (1932). Sinterklass. Den Haag, Nederland: G. B. van Goor Zonen.

Gaddis, Michael (2005). There is no crime for those who have Christ: religious violence in the Christian Roman Empire. Berkeley, CA, USA: University of California Press.

Giles, Kevin. “The Biblical Argument for Slavery: Can the Bible Mislead? A Case Study in Hermeneutics.” Evangelical Quarterly 66 (1994).

Green, Bernard. (2008). The Soteriology of Leo the Great. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Gregory, Timothy E. (1979). Vox populi: popular opinion and violence in the religious controversies of the fifth century A.D. Columbus, OH, USA: Ohio State University Press.

Ingram, W. Scott; Ingram, Asher, Scott; Robert (2004). Greek Immigrants. Infobase Publishing.

Larson-Miller, Lizette (1992). To imitate their perfection: a comparison of the relationship of Christology and martyrial liturgy in sixth century Gaul and Syria. Unpublished doctoral dissertation Graduate Theological Union. New York. NY, USA.: Graduate Theological Union.

Ладжойя, Никола. Никола Ладжойя ; перевод с итальянского В. Петрова (2009). Санта–Клаус, или Книга о том, как “Кока–Кола” сформировала наш мир воображаемого. Publisher: Изд-во Ивана Лимбаха, Sankt-Peterburg : Izd-vo Ivana Limbakha.

Lecco. Margherita (2001). Il Motivo della Mesnie Hellequin nella Letteratura Medievale., Alessandria (Italy), Edizioni dell’Orso.

Lee, Won-Jon; Wilkinson, Caroline M & Hwang, Hyeon-Shik. (2012) “An Accuracy Assessment of Forensic Computerized Facial Reconstruction Employing Cone-Beam Computed Tomography from Live Subjects.” Journal of Forensic Sciences. Vol. 57, No. 2 (March): 318-327.

Lefebure, Leo D. (2000). Revelation, the religious, and violence. Maryknoll, NY, USA: Orbis Books.

Lenski, M. C. H. (1961). The Interpretation of St. Luke’s Gospel. Minneapolis, MN, USA: Ausburg.

Leo (Pope). Epistle 4.

Letria, José Jorge (1996). Bom Natal, Pai Natal! Porto, Brasil: Edinter.

Lindahl, Carl; McNamara, John & Lindow, John (eds.; 2002) Medieval Folklore: A Guide to Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs, and Customs, Oxford University Press.

MacMullen, Ramsay (2006). Voting about God in early church councils. New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press.

Marcus, Harold G. (1994). A history of Ethiopia. Berkeley, CA, USA: University of California Press.

Miller, William Lee (1995). Arguing About Slavery. John Quincy Adams and the Great Battle in the United States Congress. New York, NY, USA: Vintage Books.

Moore, Clement Clarke (c 199?). The Night Before Christmas: A Visit from St. Nicholas. Raleigh, NC, USA : Alex Catalogue.

Moss, Candida R. (2013). The myth of persecution: how early Christians invented a Story of Martyrdom. New York, NY, USA: Harper One.

Orel, Vladimir (2003). A Handbook of Germanic Etymology. Leiden: Brill Publishers.

Piø, Iørn & Raahauge, Jens (1989). Historien om julemanden : fortalt for børn og voksne. (København, Danmark): Foreningen Danmarks Folkeminder, Forlaget Folkeminder aps

Ploog, Michael G.; Baum, Lyman Frank & Capuron (1992). Santa Claus: la legend du Père Noël. (Paris, France). Delcourt.

Prøysen, Alf & Dahl, Hans Normann (1971). Snekker Andersen og julenissen. (Oslo, Norway) Bokklubbens Barn.

Salisbury, Joyce E. (2004). The blood of martyrs: unintended consequences of ancient violence. New York, NY, USA: Routledge.

Schön, Ebbe. (2004). Asa-Tors hammare, Gudar och jättar i tro och tradition. Värnamo: Deutschland: Fält & Hässler.

Signori, Gabriela (2012). Dying for the faith, killing for the faith: Old Testament faith-warriors (Maccabees 1 and 2) in historical perspective. Leiden, Nederland: Brill.

Southerton, Simon G. (2004), Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA and the Mormon Church, Salt Lake City: Signature Books.

Sturluson, Snorri & Hollander, M. Lee (Trans.) (1964, later 2007). Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway. Austin, TX, USA:  Published for the American-Scandinavian Foundation by the University of Texas Press.

Vanderwood, Paul J. (2004). Juan Soldado: rapist, murderer, martyr, saint. Durham, NC, USA: Duke University Press.

Wilburn, Kathy (1985). Le renne di Santa Claus. Milano, Italia: Mondadori.

Wilkinson, Caroline (2012). Craniofacial identification. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Wilkinson, Caroline (2004). Forensic facil reconstruction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

 

End Notes