The Christ Child vs. Santa Claus

Thousands of Czechs have signed a petition demanding that the Christ Child - also a bringer of gifts in the Czech tradition - should be protected from Santa Claus. The liberal daily Mladá fronta Dnes gets a kick out of the idea: "The devil only knows what irks the protesters more - the fact that this saint plays no role in the Czech tradition or the name Claus, which they associate in their subconscious with the anti-Christ in Prague Castle [President Václav Klaus]. The authors of the petition are fulminating against this 'fat American Santa'. First of all it is not politically correct to hold someone's weight against them. Furthermore, who knows whether the Christ Child doesn't also have baby fat? And why do they consider the Christ Child Czech at all? There's nothing about that in the Bethlehem registry. ... I wouldn't be surprised if a little Czech xenophobia wasn't behind all the fun. It's just a small step from saying 'We don't want this alien Santa' to calling for a ban on the 'Spanish bird' [beef roulade], the English roast, the Greek olive or Chinese rice."

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