Anxiously Waiting for Santa Claus

Santa Claus and Black Pete had been a part of Minahasa tradition since the 20th century. This tradition was adopted in Minahasa along with Protestantism.

KOMPAS/KRISTIAN OKA PRASETYADI

Santa Claus and black piet from the Santa Claus God Bless Committee group sit in the back of a pickup truck during visits to children's homes in Paal IV, Manado, North Sulawesi, Saturday (10/12/2022).

It is between hope and anxiety. Children are hoping for presents but feel anxious, lest kindhearted Santa Claus will not come alone. In December in Manado, the hearts of children beat hard until they finally receive gifts from a white-bearded man in a red suit accompanied by Black Pete.

Azrakal, 3, looked cautious when four pickups halted in front of his house in the settlement of Paal IV in Manado, North Sulawesi, at noon on Saturday (10/12/2022). To the accompaniment of a deafening disco song typical of Manado, a sturdy, white-bearded man wearing a red velvet hat and suit got out of his car and warmly greeted Azrakal.

However, as he was carried by his grandmother, Meydi Lengkong, 44, the child’s attention focused on the four black-robed men with scary makeup.

They approached Azrakal. Then, one of them said clearly in Manado Malay, “Ooooh, ini kang yang ja banakal? (Is this a naughty child?)” Another interrupted, “He keeps playing with a cellphone!” Yet another called out, “Isi jo di karung! (Just put him in the sack!)”

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Azrakal cried hard and hid in the arms of his grandmother, who soothed him as she refrained from laughing. The bearded man stroked the child’s head as he gave him a package of various snacks as well as plastic dishes and helium balloons. Azrakal stopped crying.

The pickups the costumed men came in bore a banner reading “Santa Claus God Bless Committee”.

This is one of the ways the people of Manado, Greater Minahasa, and other regions in North Sulawesi celebrate Christmas for their children, with a kindhearted Santa Claus and aggressive Black Pete characters making their rounds from door to door. Azrakal is among the hundreds, even thousands, of children they will visit in December.

The Santa Claus God Bless Committee is just one of the many Santa Claus committees in North Sulawesi that were set up two months ago. These committees are usually made up of local residents, members of local youth communities or just groups of youths who hang out together.

KOMPAS/KRISTIAN OKA PRASETYADI

Santa Claus and black piet from the Santa Claus God Bless Committee group visited a resident's house to give a gift to a child at Paal IV, Manado, North Sulawesi, Saturday (10/12/2022)..

To enable the visits, the Santa Claus God Bless Committee has fixed a price of Rp 50,000 for each of the 67 children it is visiting this year. Meanwhile, the Santa Clause Second Family Committee delivers packages worth Rp 125,000-Rp 150,000 each to 83 children.

Unlike the Santa Claus God Bless Committee, whose members come in costume and scare the children, the Second Family is the reverse.

“There’s a special request from parents that children should not be frightened. We should not make them feel traumatized,” Dekwin Aditya, 30, general chairman of the Second Family, a social action community for youth, said on Sunday (11/12).

This committee makes no profit from the Christmas activity as they make visits in a convoy of cars and motorcycles from one subdistrict to another.

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Head of the East Indonesia Cultural Studies Center (Pukkat) in Tomohon, Denni H.R. Pinontoan, said Santa Claus and Black Pete had been a part of Minahasa tradition since the 20^th century. Instead of carrying any religious meaning, the two figures were part of the popular culture surrounding Christmas, with Santa visiting houses to distribute candies and presents to children who have been good throughout the year. This tradition was adopted in Minahasa along with Protestantism.

The residents practice the tradition without any ties to religion. Furthermore, the activity is not Christian, because Santa Claus is not a religious figure.

Meydi, who signed up Azrakal for the activity, and her grandson are both Muslim.

“He [Azrakal] plays with the cellphone too much. If he meets Black Pete, he will be scared and stop playing with the phone,” she said, smiling.

Some parents have signed up their children with a note that they should stop bathing in the river. One of these parents is Fransiska Nessa, 35, who signed up her son Angelo Makaado, 3.

Children’s psyche

Yet for clinical psychologist Elis Ratnawati, Santa Claus and Black Pete, who should be entertaining, can have a negative impact on children’s psyche, especially those aged under five. Teaching through a threat, particularly a painful threat like being put into sacks, can be traumatizing for children.

“I’ve handled the case of a child who felt unsafe, uncomfortable and uneasy every year-end because of such threats. This pattern of child rearing carries the risk of leaving an impression on the child’s psyche,” she said.

But in the settlement in the middle of Manado, this tradition lives on without any regard to either ethnicity or religion.

This article was translated byAris Prawira.