(12/21/98)
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's communist government may have restored Christmas as a public holiday, but that does not mean Santa Claus is welcome on the Caribbean island.
An official Cuban newspaper warned readers Monday to beware the white-bearded Santa figure, beloved by children, as a potentially threatening symbol of U.S. ``consumerism,'' ''cultural hegemony'' and ``mental colonization.''
In an article in the labor union weekly, Trabajadores, headlined in English, ``Merry Christmas,'' columnist Eduardo Jimenez Garcia chided some state-run shops in Havana for decorating with the symbols of the traditional Northern Christmas.
Jimenez said the Santa Claus figure, the English greeting ''Merry Christmas,'' Christmas trees and artificial snow were inappropriate in tropical, socialist Cuba.
Describing Santa Claus as ``the leading symbol of the hagiography of U.S. mercantilism,'' he said that shops using him for decoration were extending ``a humble help to the expansion of this hegemonic culture, with its accompanying ethics and ideology.'' He added, ``Reports that he is able to climb down chimneys in the middle of the night indicate that he is an aggressive and able spy for the Americans.''
He added that the Cuban way of celebrating the end of the year, ``each from the point of view of his own beliefs,'' was through family gatherings that could incorporate ``parties, music, jokes, the cherished pork meat, rum and beer. Lots of beer.''
Many hotels, shops and restaurants that cater to foreign tourists in Havana have put up Christmas trees and other decorations, which can also be glimpsed in some private homes.
But most state shops that stock such decorations sell them in U.S. dollars, which puts them out of reach of most Cubans.
Cuba's government recently restored Christmas to the national holiday calendar after a suspension of almost 30 years.