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Africa North
'Confronting the Death Arriving From the West' – Santa Claus in Algeria
2007-01-05
On December 24, 2006 - Christmas Eve - the Algerian daily El-Shourouq El-Yawmi published an op-ed complaining that Santa Claus, in full holiday regalia, was on the move in the streets of Tizi Ouzo, in the Algerian Berber region of Kabylie. The article described what it called the "Christianization" of the region as "the death arriving from the West."

The article comes in the context of an ongoing polemic over the phenomenon of conversion to Christianity in the Kabylie region. In 2004, Minister of Religious Affairs Bouabdellah Ghlamallah denounced Christian proselytizing, warning that it could lead to bloodshed. Several weeks later, in an about-face, he said that proselytizing posed no danger, and that "everyone is free to convert to the religion he finds right for him." [1]

Nonetheless, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has recently made statements to the contrary. On April 17, 2006, the daily L'Expression reported that during a visit to the city of Constantine, Bouteflika had said: "We will not accept our children being turned away from their religion to Christianity under the pretext of democracy," and that "Algerians will not accept another religion aside from Islam." [2] Several months later, the country passed the "Regulation of Religious Practice" law, which stipulates a punishment of two to five years' imprisonment and heavy fines for anyone convicted of urging a Muslim to change his religion. [3]
Posted by:anonymous5089

#12  Thor, too. The elder gods do as they please, Free Radical. ;-) But a5089 is right -- the Muslim enforcers look to traditional threats, they have no knowledge of deep history or understanding of modern developments.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-01-05 23:56  

#11  Well commented TW. But my point still stands. If you asked "who rides in a little cart pulled by two goats?" I would answer THOR. Not Santa.
But then I was always into war-hammers and the like!
Posted by: Free Radical   2007-01-05 23:27  

#10  TW,

Spot on. Must say, there is nothing like Christmas in Japan as far as the spectacle goes.
Posted by: bombay   2007-01-05 22:43  

#9  I don't think they're paranoid; for them, religion still is a BIG thing, in fact, they think foremost in religious terms, seeing us still as Christians... even if our societies are in fact mostly secularized, or even dechristianized/post-christian.

Christmas may be what Zhang fei describes for *us*, but for the algerian brass, according to their mental OS, it still is that big CHRISTIAN holiday, and a threat to "their" arabo-muslim identity.
Posted by: anonymous5089   2007-01-05 12:57  

#8  These people are paranoid. Christmas as celebrated around the world has about as much to do with Christianity as McDonald's. It's just an occasion for department stores to play Bing Crosby and Andy Williams festive songs and to decorate department stores in red and green to stimulate consumer demand.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2007-01-05 12:28  

#7  Different places, different details, Free Radical. Sinterklaas, the Dutch/Belgian version, is clad as a bishop, rides a horse, and is followed by his servant Black Pete on a donkey. It would be the Scandanavian version using reindeer, surely. Perhaps in the Alps the good saint does have a sled pulled by goats. Since Algeria is a former French colony, possibly they're following the French tradition in such things. Saint Nicholas was a Christian bishop, I b'lieve in Syria, I think 4th century AD, who is said to have tossed a purse of gold through the window of the cottage where three orphaned sisters lived, that they might have dowries with which to marry. A generous man.

While Christmas and St. Nick should be religious thingies, and still are to many, it's been picked up round the world along with other Western practices as part of modernization. I get the most beautiful Christmas cards every year from my Japanese friends, who really enjoy decorating the house and making their best attempt at a traditional Christmas dinner.

On the other hand, the complainers are right to see this as a threat to their thought control, one more seduction of the modern world away from all that is Right and Good (memorizing the Koran, a multiplicity of ever-pregnant wives, abusing the dhimmi...)
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-01-05 10:07  

#6  "'Santa Claus' coming in his legendary carriage, decorated in red, full of bells, and drawn by two goats"

Dashing through the sand
In a two-goat open carriage
Santa Claus came down
Without asking permission

Infidels, infidels, invading our lands, Oh!
Bringing death from the West to Tizi Ouzo!
And presents in their hands, Oh!
Posted by: UFO over Tizi Ouzo   2007-01-05 08:13  

#5  AFAIK, Santa Clause isn't a religious thing. It's a commercial thing.

It's a mix. The name is a corruption/softening of Saint Nicholas, and the legend apparently ties into a Greek patriarch who was known for anonymously giving gifts.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2007-01-05 07:42  

#4  "What adds to the impression this occasion leaves on people's souls is 'Santa Claus' coming in his legendary carriage, decorated in red, full of bells, and drawn by two goats - except that these goats come from the native mountains of Tizi-Ouzo, and not fromÂ… the Alps in EuropeÂ…

Hey Top Job, Santa rides in a SLED pulled by REINDEER...
The guy in the cart being pulled by goats is ... THOR.
Maybe you ought to ruminate on that one, que?
Posted by: Free Radical   2007-01-05 06:28  

#3  Speak the Arabic language and you are an Arab; speak the English language and you are a__________?

Assyrians, Berbers, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Armareans, Chaldeans, Mesopotamians, Copts, Yamanis, Bedouins, etc. all better define speakers of Arabic. Until American University of Beirut promoted a common language, few of these savages could understand each other. And the better for us.
Posted by: Sneaze Shaiting3550   2007-01-05 05:00  

#2  AFAIK, Santa Clause isn't a religious thing. It's a commercial thing.
Posted by: gorb   2007-01-05 04:31  

#1  Kabyls aka Berbers are the opressed minority of Algeria. Their opressors are mostly arabified Berbers. A growing number of Berbers reject islam. Those who don't area alarmed by Algerian governemnt's policy of replacing Sunni imams by wahabi ones. Wahabists are not merely radicals, they are also Arab supremacists.
Posted by: JFM   2007-01-05 04:08  

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