Tuesday, November 06, 2001

Popular stand-ins for Santa Claus

When I was little, we were too poor for Santa Claus to come to our house. We didn't get Father Christmas either -- we had to settle for his grandson.

On a serious note, I discovered in Haiti that in Port-au-Prince, where the boujwa live, that they have Papa Noel, or Father Christmas. Out in the provinces, he's Tonton Noel, or "Uncle Christmas."

Of course, when I was there, during the embargo the big phrase was "Tonton Noel pap vin paske annbago" (Santa's not coming because of the embargo).

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