Season's greetings!

9 Native Style Christmas Memes and Cartoons

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Ecstatic Eid, Krazy Kwanzaa, and a Wondrous Winter Solstice!

Rob

Season's greetings!

9 Native Style Christmas Memes and Cartoons

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Ecstatic Eid, Krazy Kwanzaa, and a Wondrous Winter Solstice!

Rob

Season's greetings!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Ecstatic Eid, Krazy Kwanzaa, and a Wondrous Winter Solstice!

Rob

Kelly: Jesus and Santa are white

Pretty much everyone in America has heard what Megyn Kelly of Fox News said about Santa Claus and Jesus. Here's the money quote:



Okay, sure. Only old white men watch Fox News, not kids, but never mind.

In related news, God is white. Everyone in the Bible is white. The Easter Bunny is white, and so is the Tooth Fairy.

Also, presidents are white--legitimate presidents, anyway. Popes are white. Movie and TV stars are white--except Oprah. Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela weren't white, but they were conservative patriots, which is like honorary whites.

Basically anyone good or important is or was white. These people made the world what it is today, which is civilized and white.

Just a joke?

As America mocked Kelly mercilessly, she tried to explain herself:

Megyn Kelly doubles down on ‘white Santa’: I did it for the kidsAfter Kelly sparked outraged on the Internet and became fodder late-night comics, she responded to the controversy on Friday.

“I offered a tongue-in-cheek message for any kids watching,” she explained. “Humor is a part of what we try to bring to this show, but sometimes that is lost on the humorless.”In other words, she went with a classic excuse: "My racism was just a joke."

If it really was a joke, wouldn't a proper response be: "Obviously, Santa is a fictional character and could be any color--black, brown, or whatever. And Jesus, as a Middle Eastern Jew, probably was dark-skinned, not white. I was just joking about their being white, and especially about its being a verifiable fact.

"Sorry I didn't make it clear that I was sarcastically saying the opposite of what I meant. Clearly Santa and Jesus aren't verifiably white and their skin colors are not any kind of a fact."

Below:  White Jesus, black Jesus, and our best guess about what the historical Jesus looked like (if he existed).



Doubling down on racism

Conservative racists doubled down on Kelly's racist claims:

Libertarian Radio Host: Santa Is White Just Like MLK Was BlackLibertarian radio host Neal Boortz on Monday defended Fox News' Megyn Kelly's insistence that Santa Claus is white, Buzzfeed reported.

"I'm sorry. Santa Claus is white, okay? Deal with it," Boortz, who was filling in for Herman Cain on his radio show, said after a caller asked about the controversy surrounding Kelly's statement.

"I'm gonna scream and complain because Martin Luther King is always portrayed as black," Boortz added.New Mexico teacher chides black student for costume because ‘Santa Claus is white’A New Mexico teacher was disciplined this week after the parent of one of his students complained that he had told his black son that Santa Claus is white.

According to Michael Rougier, the parent, the unidentified teacher approached his ninth-grade son, Christopher, who was wearing a Santa hat and fake beard and said, “Don’t you know Santa Claus is white? Why are you wearing that?”The teacher probably added that the boy could play an elf (slave) or reindeer (animal). Brown roles for brown people, right?

As for Boortz, King was depicted as black because he was black. Santa Claus and Jesus are fictional characters who have fictional skin colors. The two cases aren't comparable.

Some conservatives pointed to St. Nicholas, the supposed source of St. Nick aka Santa. Nice try, but wrong:



As a native of Asia Minor, Nicholas's skin was brown, not white. As church depictions of him indicate.

Archie knows best

If real people don't understand Jesus and Santa, perhaps we can rely on fictional characters.

For instance, the worst bigot in TV history agrees with Megyn Kelly:



Fortunately, Santa himself showed up to set the record straight:

‘Black As Hell’ Santa Appears on SNL to Address Megyn KellySanta explained to viewers that it’s really much easier if everyone thinks he’s white–after all, he can’t get the toys delivered if he keeps getting pulled over, can he?

Santa ended with a request: when you see him in your house, don’t call the police.

Conservatives dream of white Christmas

What the controversy about white Jesus and Santa tells us about the conservative mindset:

It’s wrong to worship ‘white Jesus’

By Susan Brooks ThistlethwaiteJesus, Christians believe, is God-with-us. Thus, when someone insists Jesus was “white,” the theological implication is that God is white.

In fact, doesn’t God, in our cultural stereotype, look a lot like Santa? Old white man with a long white beard?

A great illustration of this point happened on Wednesday night when Megyn Kelly declared on her Fox News showthat both Santa Claus and Jesus were white.

Jesus and Santa are enormously powerful images for Americans and it is not surprising, as the U.S. is becoming ever more racially diverse, that there would be a visible contest over whether Jesus and Santa are white.

This is the frontline of our struggles over what it means to be an American and a person of faith today. Racial prejudice has actually increased since the election of Barack Obama, as an AP News Poll taken earlier this fall shows. This is due, I believe, to an increase in racially polarizing rhetoric since President Obama’s election, and it is both culturally and religiously harmful.

Kelly’s comments were elicited by a piece in Slate, “Santa Claus Should Not Be A White Man Any More,” by Alisha Harris. Harris writes movingly about the dominant culture white Santa and its effect on her as a kid.

But Alisha Harris’s childhood experience should be disregarded, according to Kelly, because it is contradictory to dominant cultural and religious norms. “Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean it has to change, you know?” she added. “I mean, Jesus was a white man too. He was a historical figure, that’s a verifiable fact, as is Santa—I just want the kids watching to know that.”

Santa, of course, is a fictional character based on the 4th century Saint Nikolaos of Myra who lived in what is now Turkey.

Jesus, however, was an historical figure and he was not “white.”Dreaming of a White Jesus (and a Real Santa): Reflections on Conservative Derangement

By Tim WiseTo be perfectly honest, I find it quite shocking that anyone would be, well, shocked, by Megyn Kelly’s recent insistence on her FOX show that Santa Claus and Jesus are both white men, or even—and perhaps this is the bigger point—that Santa Claus is real. After all, when one works for a news outlet devoted to the daily propagation of fiction, fabricating such nonsensical details as these can’t exactly be seen as a deviation from an otherwise reality-based norm. These are people for whom man-made climate change isn’t happening but the “War on Christmas” is. People who will no doubt soon proclaim said war to be clear evidence of growing anti-white hatred, given the “verifiable” whiteness of the holiday’s two primary figures, as Kelly put it late last week.

Oh, and yes, I know, she has tried to rationalize her comments, to explain them away as a joke, a mere stab at open mic night perhaps, presuming for herself the mantle of a comedian—a profession for which she is no more qualified than the one she currently inhabits. She was just kidding, and oh yeah (as even she admits), she spoke too soon when demanding that “Jesus was white,” so, ya know, sorry about that one! It is at this point that dear Ms. Kelly should probably be reminded that one cannot, in moments like this, have it both ways: it cannot be both a joke, and at the same time, something you meant so literally as to then necessitate a retraction on the Jesus part. It’s like a criminal suspect saying they didn’t shoot the other guy, and anyway, it was self-defense.

No indeed, humor doesn’t require correction when the subject matter turns out to be absurd, because absurdity was the point. Retraction is for self-professed news people when they get the facts wrong, as she did. She was just supposing that none of her audience would notice, or care, as none of her guests did that day: people who sat there smiling all around, and raising nary a syllable of objection when she said that Santa “just is white.” One wonders if such silence would likewise have obtained had she chosen to proclaim equally rational positions, such as the “verifiable fact” that the Easter Bunny just is fluffy, or that the Tooth Fairy, just is the most beautiful winged creature in the known Universe.

Now don’t get me wrong, if there were a Santa Claus, there is very little doubt that he would have to be white. After all, no black man could manage to work only one day out of the year and not be called lazy; and surely no black man could get away with breaking into millions of homes, even if he was bearing presents. Some cop or neighborhood watch captain would surely have taken him down long ago, convinced that the red suit he was wearing signified gang colors. So, and let me be the first to admit it: in a world where Santa actually existed, along with unicorns, pixie dust and the Lorax, Megyn Kelly would have a damned good point. Note, this is how one can make a joke about Santa being white, without reinforcing white racial normalcy: but of course no FOX personality would choose to make the joke this way, because such a joke would require, first, an acknowledgment of the reality of racial profiling and anti-black racism, neither of which conservatives can afford to countenance. This is why conservative race humor isn’t funny, just racist; please take note of it. Thank you.Wise's point:What this means for most white people is simple enough. Even though no anthropologist or historian of first century Galilean Jews—which is to say Palestinians—would believe that Jesus could have been white, if that’s the image in the stained glass of one’s church, or on the Christmas card sent to you by your great-aunt Millie, well then, what do anthropologists know anyway? What is science compared to what makes us feel better? Indeed, this is the irony of Megyn Kelly’s rant last week: while she was lambasting an African American essayist who had argued that a white Santa was insufficiently inclusive—by telling her that “just because something makes you uncomfortable doesn’t mean it has to change”—the fact is, it is Megyn Kelly and white conservatives the world over who apparently need Jesus to be white. Which is why they changed him so as to make him such, even though many of the earliest depictions of him hewed more closely to the logical and historical truth. This truth is one that, it should be noted, has been explicated clearly by forensic anthropologists based on the available period-specific evidence, in their reconstructions of the face of Jesus. Suffice it to say that their scientifically more compelling image is one that would not only be rejected by most whites (and surely most who rely on FOX for their news), but would likely provoke them to deep and abiding anger.

Which brings us to the far more important point: namely, why do white people apparently require white heroes, icons and saviors? Because we quite obviously do. Surely one cannot think it coincidence that Jesus has been so rendered ever since Christianity came to be used in the service of European supremacy? Surely one cannot find it a capricious and fanciful whim—or mere artistic contrivance—that would cause Michelangelo, Mel Gibson and thousands more between to envision Jesus as essentially one of ours? Likewise, and on a far less serious note, do we really believe that Santa has “always been white” as Limbaugh put it—or as Kelly herself did in her defense, when referencing films like “Miracle on 34th Street”—because there were no darker actors capable of chortling “ho ho ho,” and rubbing their prodigious bellies?

No indeed, there are no coincidences here, and however much Megyn Kelly now wishes to play victim, proclaiming herself the unjust target of “race baiters,” such a conceit is rich and even precious coming from her: someone who spent several hours a few years back hyping an entirely nonsensical story about the New Black Panthers, and how they were intimidating white voters at a polling place in Philadelphia in 2008. And this she did, even though in all the hours of coverage she could produce not one actual voter at the precinct who claimed to have been intimidated (and indeed, there were none), and although even the leading conservative on the Civil Rights Commission, which investigated the charge called it much ado about nothing.

Megyn Kelly is not the victim. And it is not race-baiting to suggest that there might be something troubling about the racialization of Jesus as a white man, or that there might be something even more troubling about a grown and well-paid news figure insisting that Santa is anything. Whether one wishes to address it or not, there is a reason these icons have been rendered white, especially Jesus. It would hardly have done, one supposes, to allow the more historically accurate Jesus to predominate in the church paintings, as Europe branched out, seeking to conquer the globe in the name of money and power and land, proclaiming the inferiority of the darker types all the while (and most ironically, their spiritual inferiority). It would have been decidedly more difficult, one might imagine, to enslave and brutalize and rape and murder the black and brown, if those who did the deed had then to enter their churches on the Sabbath and pray to a savior whose visage bore an uncanny and haunting resemblance to the man they had just lynched the night before, as the Romans had done on a cross with another brother so many years before.

To make the savior of the universe (at least in Christian eyes) a white man is to make possible, literally, the enslavement of brown and black peoples, the evisceration of still others and the conquest of their land in the name of white superiority. These historic crimes are almost unthinkable in a society where truth and historical accuracy were valued more than white skin. Which is to say, when conservatives insist Megyn Kelly’s comments—and the beliefs of millions—that Jesus was white are only a matter of personal preference without consequence, they write and speak as if history didn’t happen. But it did, and it matters, however painful it might be for white people to face.Comment:  The point about Jesus and Santa isn't to prove their race. It's that conservatives feel the need to "own" them, the Founders, God, et al.

By claiming that God, Jesus, Santa, and anyone else they consider an authority figure are white, they're claiming the supremacy of whiteness. They're claiming white Pilgrims, Founding Fathers, pioneers and cowboys, et al. made America great. That is, whiteness made America great. or simply white is great.

For more on the subject, see White Students Complain About Race Talk and GOP Claims Racism Ended.

Conservative vs. liberal Santa

Conservative Santa:



Helping children become men by cutting out the socialist "gifts" and giving them lumps of coal to inspire them! Thank you, conservative Santa!

And liberal Santa:

Season's greetings!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Ecstatic Eid, Krazy Kwanzaa, and a Wondrous Winter Solstice!

Rob

Native New Mexican Christmas traditions

Trail Dust: Three cultures flavor New Mexico Christmas traditions

By Marc SimmonsFor newcomers, their first Christmas in New Mexico often catches them by surprise. The sacred holiday here always seems a bit foreign, or even exotic, and at the very least unfamiliar.

The first Christmas of record occurred in 1598 with a midnight Mass at a hastily constructed church adjacent to the newly named San Juan Pueblo (now called Ohkay Owingeh). Participants were New Mexico’s founder, Juan de Oñate, and his colonists.

They and their successors introduced rituals and customs that traced back to old Spain. Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) and Navidad (Christmas Day) were at the center of an extended season honoring the birth of Christ.

Over the centuries, the holidays became deeply embedded in the local folk culture, developing along the way its own distinctive flavor.And:On Christmas Day, one could usually find a performance of the matachin dance drama, whose origins can be linked to medieval Spain. On the way to New Mexico, the matachines had added Indian elements from central Mexico, becoming a distinctly New World spectacle.

The Pueblo Indians at an uncertain date adopted the masked dances of the matachines and blended in their own ceremonial calendar. Performances were given at Christmas, but on other occasions also, such as the feast of Guadalupe (Dec. 12), as is still done at Jemez Pueblo.

The pueblos, having Spanish Christianity imposed upon them in the Colonial Period, gradually Indianized the celebration of Christmas, the matachines being a part of that process. Winter animal dances, especially the Buffalo Dance, were included during the days between Dec. 25 and New Year’s.A Taos Pueblo Christmas is like no other

By Nathan Suazo and Rick RomancitoAt Picuris Pueblo in southern Taos County for instance, the tribe there does the Matachines Dance for Christmas. This performance dates back to a blend of traditions that began with the Moors, flowed into the Spanish who then brought it to the New World as a way to teach elements of Christianity through mythic theater. This dance is also done at Taos Pueblo, but only on rare occasions.

The interesting thing about the celebration at Taos is that it’s a blend of Christianity, Native beliefs and traditions that can only be said to have evolved as part of the unique quality of this region.

As such, some things can be talked about openly, while others—those specifically having to do with Native religion—cannot. For instance, on Christmas Day, the tribe will be performing the Deer Dance. This is a sacred ceremonial filled with meaning and vital importance for the world, but details about it are held tightly secret from outsiders.

“For many of the pueblo cultures, the deer is a very important animal,” tribal member Marcie Winters says. “The dance is something that is difficult to explain, but it is a beautiful tradition to witness.”Navajo bring their own flare to Christmas celebrations

By Hannah GroverFrom concerts in Shiprock to Nativity scenes and luminarias in Farmington, the Navajo are celebrating Christmas with their own style.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the Dine Christian Center will be holding a Christmas concert at the Old Shiprock Chapter house. There will be hot chocolate and kids are encouraged to dress traditionally. The concert will start at 6 p.m. each day.

On Saturday, the Solid Rock Outreach and Promotions is holding "An Evening with the Kinlichiiniis" and Navajo Ministries is presenting a live nativity scene featuring children from the Four Corners Home for Children.Comment:  I think I saw a deer dance once. But it was at another pueblo, not Taos.

For more on Native Christmas traditions, see Navajo Santa and Matachines Dance at Northern Pueblos.

Below:  "A group of matachin dancers from Bernalillo performing at El Rancho de las Golondrinas in 2011."

PEACE PARTY political cartoon: Christmas

Season's greetings!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Ecstatic Eid, Krazy Kwanzaa, and a Wondrous Winter Solstice!

Rob

Santa the criminal

So Santa Claus is a Dutchman who's squatting illegally at the North Pole in violation of international law? Sounds like another example of the European colonial mentality.

There are probably some valuable oil rights under his cottage and toy factory. Perhaps he's trying to cut a deal with the highest bidder.

I don't think there are any labor laws in international waters. So he can work his elves to death without having to worry about the pay or working conditions.

How do you think he out-produces China and manufactures billions of toys every year? Not by following OSHA standards, you betcha.

Santa arrested

I'm not the only one who's noted Santa's illegal activities. Here's an AP story from 12/24/10:

News FlashIn a surprise move today, the Justice Department handed down indictments against Santa Claus (AKA Kris Kringle, Per Noel, Saint Nick) for allegedly employing undocumented guest workers at his North Pole toy factory. Originally alerted by an anonymous tipster known only as “The Grinch,” the Justice Department alleges that Claus operates a large toy manufacturing “sweat shop,” solely utilizing an illegal labor force. According to the government’s press release, this is “the largest such operation ever detected.” Off the record, one official said, "This operation is completely unprecedented in size, probably grossing over five hundred billion in revenue annually." At the same time, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it appears that Claus has never withheld employee income taxes, paid any corporate income taxes, or filed a federal tax return. The IRS says its investigation is continuing, but has already initiated procedures to seize Claus’s factory.

Claus, a morosely obese smoker who has admitted in past interviews to being addicted to junk food, is also being investigated for breaking and entering, illegally flying in restricted airspace, and cruelty to animals. The Justice Department has indicated a RICO indictment will soon be forthcoming.For more on the subject, see Navajo Santa and Santa Visits Havasupai by Helicopter.

Navajo Santa

Navajo Santa celebrates 27 years

By Krista AllenAfter a weeklong gathering for fun and games, the Tólikan community ended their festivities Dec. 3 with a visit from Navajo Santa of Ya'at'eeh Keshmish, a nonprofit organization.

"What it is is to provide a good Christmas for as many people of the Navajo Nation as we can," Ya'at'eeh Keshmish supporter Gary Evershed, from Salt Lake City, said. "We try to provide things that are useful like buckets, shovels, clothes, axes, books, and toys for the children."

Navajo Santa commemorated its 27th consecutive giveaway this year with volunteers from northern Utah including Jerry Sloan and Phil Johnson, two former Utah Jazz coaches.

"(The giveaways) were held on the Utah portion of the Navajo Nation," former Navajo Nation Council Delegate Woody Lee said. "This is the first year that one of the founders has their license to do this in the state of Arizona, so it's here."Comment:  For more on the subject, see Santa Visits Havasupai by Helicopter.

Below:  "Volunteers from northeastern Utah unload boxes Dec. 3 at the 27th Navajo Santa Giveaway south of the Red Mesa Trading Post. Blankets, food, winter garments, and other necessities were given out."

Stereotypical Yulefest postcard

Adrienne Keene writes about a holiday tradition gone wrong in her Native Appropriations blog:

Cambridge 5K Yulefest Postcards, Really?"Yulefest" is a Cambridge, MA tradition of sorts, a Holiday-themed 5k race through the streets of Cambridge, ending at a big tent full of beer. It's considered to be irreverent, silly, and (from what I've heard) an overall good time. "Creative holiday wear" and costumes are encouraged, and everyone has a grand ol' time. Until now. Cause I'm not having a grand ol' time after seeing their promotional materials.Two vintage-looking Indian women, waving/saying "how," wearing stereotypical feather headbands, accompanied by a tipi wrapped around a Christmas tree. Fantastic. I assume they were going for "cute" "clever" maybe even a little "hipster" or "ironic"? Or maybe it's a weird reference to the taking the "holidays back to their old school roots" in the description? But, what, I ask you, does the stereotyping of Native people have to do with running, or even the holidays for that matter?After Keene posted the pic on Twitter, the Cambridge 5K people responded:@NativeApprops Didn't mean to offend anyone. Thanks for the schooling, we agree with you.Comment:  I don't see any irony or message here. I think they were going for a straight, traditional "cute."

The Cambridge 5K people admitted they were wrong, more or less. That's better than the usual response.

For more holiday celebrations gone wrong, see Duke's "Pilgrims and Indians" Party and Thanksgiving Dinner in Suburgatory.

P.S. I'd say the image is of an Indian man and woman, not two women.

Me-Wuk bless Capitol Christmas tree

First cut is the cheeriest

U.S. Capitol Christmas tree begins its journey across the country

By Dana M. NicholsThe Stanislaus did, however, log a significant first with this year's Capitol Christmas tree harvest: members of the local Me-Wuk tribe were on hand to bless the tree and its journey.

"We are the first tribe that's ever partnered with the Forest Service to take the tree," said Reba Fuller, 62, government affairs specialist for the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians.

Fuller, a tribal elder, and her grandson Sheldon Bradford, 16, will travel with the tree for the next three weeks as it slowly crosses the continent to Washington.

Before that journey began, and before the tree was even cut, Tuolumne Me-Wuk head singer Carlos Geisdorff, 35, sang a "Tuda" song of blessing while wisps of smoke from wormwood rose into the gray dawn sky.Comment:  For more on Christmas, see Cheyenne Ornaments for National Christmas Tree.

Cheyenne ornaments for National Christmas Tree

Northern Cheyenne artist and students make ornaments for National Christmas Tree

By Zach BenoitIt's not often that a self-taught Montana artist gets national recognition from the federal government.

And it's practically unheard of for a group of Northern Cheyenne art students at Chief Dull Knife College—total enrollment, about 260 students—to have their work on display in Washington, D.C., for thousands of people to see.

But that's exactly what will happen beginning Dec. 1. Since mid-October, Billings-based Northern Cheyenne artist Alaina Buffalo Spirit and about 10 art students from the college have been crafting Montana's ornaments for this year's National Christmas Tree display and the tree in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, both in Washington.

"I want to show the nation what these Northern Cheyenne students can do," Buffalo Spirit said.

Involving students

Buffalo Spirit was selected as Montana's artist to create 24 decorations for the trees, which are sponsored by the National Park Foundation. One of the rules this year is that the artist must create the decorations with the help of a local youth arts group.

After considering several youth and student groups, Buffalo Spirit said her decision to work with the college's Foundations of Art class came down to one question: "Who's going to be mature enough to do the task?"Comment:  For more on the subject, see Native Ornaments on "History Tree" and Blackfeet Ornaments at White House.

What my family got for Christmas

The Native-themed Christmas presents I gave and received this year:

To niece Alice:

The Birchbark House--Louise Erdrich

The Game of Silence--Louise Erdrich

The Porcupine Year--Louise Erdrich

To niece Lucy:

The Mayflower & the Pilgrims' New World--Nathaniel Philbrick

Water Sky--Jean Craighead George

Becoming Naomi Leon--Pam Munoz Ryan

To sister Karen:

Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled: A Narrative of Winter Travel in Interior Alaska--Hudson Stuck

To brother-in-law Cullen:

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History--S. C. Gwynne

To me:

Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection--Matt Dembicki

The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book--Gord Hill

Fossil Legends of the First Americans--Adrienne Mayor

For more on the subject, see What My Nephews and Nieces Got and The Best Indian Books.

2010 Christmas pix

Christmas--December 25, 2010

On the way to Las Vegas, I visited the Calico Early Man Archaeological Site. Oddly, "early man" doesn't necessarily mean "Indian." See the album to find out why.



Christmas--December 26, 2010

Christmas--December 27, 2010

On the way back, I spend the day at Red Rock Canyon. Indians used to live there, though I didn't see many signs of them. But the scenery was spectacular.



For more Christmas photos, see 2009 Christmas Pix.

Christmas with Black Crow

A Year of Cool Comics--Day 350

By Brian CroninWe continue the Cool Christmas Comic Countdown with an intriguing Captain America story by J.M. DeMatteis, Paul Neary and Eduardo Baretto titled “An American Christmas”…The revelry is interrupted by the mysterious Black Crow, a Native anti-hero. He seems to think Captain America should die for America's sins against the Indians:

The fight continues for a number of more pages and it ends with the sort of Christmas message that you would expect from a J.M. DeMatteis comic book. And if you haven’t read enough J.M. DeMatteis comic books to know for sure what would be an expected ending of a J.M. DeMatteis comic book, then you really ought to read more J.M. DeMatteis comic books, because he is neat-o.

In any event, this was a good issue--a lot different than a typical Christmas issue. Very much off the beaten path. Comment:  Follow the link to see more of the story.

I believe this was Black Crow's second appearance. He hasn't appeared much since then and we still don't know much about him.

For more on the subject, see Black Crow to Replace Captain America? and Comic Books Featuring Indians.

Season's greetings!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Ecstatic Eid, Krazy Kwanzaa, and a Wondrous Winter Solstice!

Rob

Matachines dance at northern Pueblos

Matachines DanceThe Matachines dance (Spanish matachin, or religious dancer) is found in northern Mexico especially in the La Laguna Region (Coahuila and Durango), Sinaloa and Chihuahua. It is also very popular in Northern New Mexico and along the Rio Grande River. People who join the Matachines do it for a religious purpose, since the dance is intended to venerate either Mother Mary, a saint, Christ, or God the Holy Trinity.

Dressed in fantastic Indian costumes, the chief characters are El Monarca, the monarch (Montezuma); the captains (Montezuma's main generals); La Malinche, or Malintzin, the Indian mistress of Hernán Cortés; El Toro, the bull, the malevolent comic man of the play is dressed in buffalo skins with buffalo horns on his head. Characters also include Abuelo, the grandfather, and Abuela, the grandmother. The Matachines dance portrays the desertion of his people by Montezuma, Malinche luring him back with her wiles and smiles, the final reunion of king and people and the killing of El Toro, who is supposed to have made all the mischief. The most basic symbol of the dance is good vs. evil, with good prevailing. Montezuma and la Malinche represent good, and the bull represents mischief. Hernan Cortes, represents Satan or evil.

The costumes, rattles, and the arch and bow are all blessed by a priest, and as he blesses the equipment of that group, it signifies that the priest has agreed to adopt the specific dancing group for that specific church.Los Matachines:  A blend of cultures, a colorful dance into the past at Taos Pueblo

By Rick RomancitoOne of the more curious aspects of this dance to the uninformed observer is the fact that although this dance is Hispanic in origin, it is performed by Native people, along with a few Hispanic participants. The distinctive fiddle and guitar music is obviously non-Native and the regalia is certainly not that of ancient Pueblo Indian tradition.

According to historians, the dance evolved over hundreds of years, starting with the Moors and borrowed by Spanish colonists who brought it with them to the New World. By the time the dance made its way into New Mexico, it is thought that Spanish priests used it to help convert Native people to Christianity by illustrating spiritual ideals through its essential morality play.

Over time, like many things here, an assimilation took place, blending elements from both cultures that resulted in the performance taking on a life of its own.

While many Pueblo Indians here follow the Catholic religion, they also maintain extreme loyalty to their ancient Native religion, evidence that the initial motive behind the dance was not entirely successfulComment:  For more on Pueblo Christmas celebrations, see Three Kings Day at Pojoaque and Pueblo Christmas Dances.

Below:  "Ruben Romero leads dancers through the alleys of Taos Pueblo's north-side homes." (Rick Romancito)