Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Santa visits every year

Santa Claus is coming to town and he's bringing surprises for everyone. Come get a photo with Santa and see what gifts he's bringing!

Santa Clause is coming to your town

Event details:

Every year, Santa Claus comes to visit every class, adults and children alike. He poses for photos and gives candy to all the good children (in age or at heart). His helpers talk about Christmas and answer questions in a culturally sensitive manner.

Santa is coming to town 2021

Story:

Christmas is a complicated topic in Morocco. People complain about how the holiday is religious and celebrating it tricks people into Christianity and Western culture. On the other hand, national and international businesses put up Christmas decorations and many leave them up most of the year because they look pretty. Handling this in a school that promote cultural exchange can be a challenge.

I start by talking with my Moroccan employees and students active in school life about Christmas. I give them a shortened version of the Santa version of Christmas:

A large man with a long white beard and dressed in red breaks into your house. He eats your cookies and leaves presents before disappearing without a trace.

and then talk about how Christmas is celebrated culturally in the United States, France, and other countries. They then decorate the school and plan the Christmas events based upon their understanding of the holiday. By having people who resemble the community handle the activities, Christmas becomes accessible as a cultural exchange event instead of appearing as a White Western Neo-Imperialistic invasion. To this day, we have had no complaints about the holiday. Strictly religious people tell us how much they love the decorations and, after talking a bit, get excited when I ask them for help decorating for Muslim holidays.

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Santa is coming to town 2021

Santa is coming to town 2019