Christmas 2000 - The Amazing Santas of Northern California
by Ria Vergara

PRELUDE: Remember our Santa in 1999? He was a rave! Brod Chris Lagasca played the traditional Santa, talking to our little ones with such warmth and love. To quote last year’s edition of The UP Betan, Chris played his role so well that “… all the small kids, including Christopher Torneros, who has always been afraid of Santa Claus, were very much enthused …” Brod Chris, ready to serve whenever he can, was prepared to do it again in 2000. But he, like me and many of us, must have been likewise surprised when …. OK, please read the next Christmas 2000 article. The author, Ria Vergara, is finishing her junior year at UCLA.

The lights turn off unexpectedly. Derick announces over the microphone that somebody has just pulled in from the North Pole. With a sudden burst, Santa Claus struts into the room from the back door. He’s dancing with attitude to the music of Run-DMC, gesturing with palms to the ceiling (in teen and younger adult parlance called “raising the roof”).

Hip-hop Santa has arrived!

On the night of the UP Beta Sigma Christmas party, Santa Claus delighted everyone in the audience with his new, upbeat style. The toddlers were positively enamoured by his gyrations as they eagerly awaited their treats. The adults looked on somewhat bewildered, but largely captivated, by the spectacle. Even the teenagers and the younger adults grinned and clapped along with the crowd as they recognized the music of their generation. For those few minutes that Santa was “doing his thing” on-stage, he had captured everyone’s attention as they cheered him on and laughed heartily through his groundbreaking performance.

It should come as no surprise to us that everyone – both young and old – so warmly welcomed the jolly, old fellow. After all, with the tradition dating clear back to A.D. 350, we all grew up with the image of Santa Claus. And indeed, he is cross-cultural, for though he takes on different names in different lands (for example, in Greece he is called Hagios Nikolaos; in China he is Shengdan Laoren; in France he is Pere Noel), he is one and the same.

But what was it that was so fascinating about the Santa that appeared to us all that night?

I believe it is the fact that he had ‘evolved’ into the Santa of the times. Imagine the difference between the Santa of the Renaissance period and the Santa that came to us. Whereas the former would use a tame, Christmas madrigal to usher in his arrival, our Santa had “Christmas in Hollis” by RUN-DMC blaring through the sound system announcing his. While a dignified walk to his seat would satisfy the Santa of the past, ours undulated and got “jiggy wit it.” This is what I mean when I say he has evolved as a reflection of our times.

The recent Christmas party has shown us once again that when we pool our talents and resources, SYNERGY is produced, and EXCELLENCE comes out as a matter of course. Be that as it may, it shouldn't sidetrack us from giving affirmations to the deserving brods, sis, and their respective families.