When you are brought up with only one language and one culture, the sudden realization that the superstitions of your tribe are not the laws of physics can be terrifying.

The Spaniards treated their slaves differently, they let them keep their language, they were mostly Yoruba, so they kept their cultural traditions relatively intact, too, and the Padres allowed them to incorporate much of their native animist beliefs with the Catholicism they indoctrinated them with. Many of the RC saints have their tribal counterparts, for example, St. Barbara became Changó, the Goddess of Thunder, since the Spaniards revered Barbara as the patron saint of artillerymen.

After slavery was abolished in Cuba, racism still persisted, but it was more social and class oriented, the Spanish never felt that slavery contradicted their religion, so they didn’t feel the need to dehumanize the blacks to justify their servitude, as was the case in the Anglo-Saxon countries.

The same thing happened with the Indian tribes on the Continent. To this day, many Indian Catholic rites in Mexico and in other places in South America are infused with native icons and rituals.

Spaniards could be as racist as the Saxons, to the Indians as well as the Negroes, but they never had anything like Jim Crow and institutionalized segregation or lynching. That was perfected in North America.

The rugrats get their presents from the Wise Men on the Epiphany, 6 Jan.

It has not have even entered my mind to perceive a black Santa. I assumed that whatever race a person is, is how Santa is personified.

I am slowly learning my comeuppance with the elderly also.

It’s not a black thing, or a white thing. It’s a gringo thing. In no other country in the world would there be a public debate on what race Santa should be. A plague on both your houses.