Graduate as Santa Claus

All the latest posts had a serious undertone. That’s not quite what "Brazil in Hot Pants" is all about, as it promised to involve a wink to the sometimes lofty Brazilian society with a hint of its beauties.
Hence this post about Papai Noël, as Santa Claus is called here. What have these “dirty old men” to do with Brazilian beauties? Well, Brazil should not be Brazil if Papai Noël did not have assistants, called Noeletes. Is Papai Noël required to be old and fat with a barreled belly, from the Noeletes is expected, that they are 18 years and ........ of course.
Scroll down and see for yourself.

As in several places in Brazil, Tijuca (Rio de Janeiro) is organizing a course that leads to qualified Santa Clauses. In four weeks time, the student is taught how to behave as Santa Claus.

"Ho ho ho, happy Christmas!" is the battle cry, which leaves, during this time of the year, almost certainly a beatific smile on the innocent faces of all children. But the words should sound well and a proper imitation of the famous smile of Santa Claus requires preparation. The course instructs candidates how to become 'the good old man’, to be able to work during the Christmas season in shopping malls and other areas.

The actor Silvio Ribeiro, 59 years, is responsible for one of the courses. In addition to the training for Papai Noël (Santa Claus), Mamãe Noël (Christmas mother) and of course Noeletes (assistants), he also recruits for the casting agency Claus Artistic Productions, which has 60 vacancies this year.

But it is not that simple to become a Santa Claus. There is a number of requirements. "First, he must like children. If the candidate has no patience with children, then he has no chance. He should not be chubby, but quite fat with a protruded belly, as well as lively and communicative (looks like he must be an old dirty male pseudo-pedophile). According to Ribeiro, children talk with Santa Claus as if they were old acquaintances.

During the course, the candidate Santa Claus receives tips how to tackle and circumvent idiotic questions from curious toddlers. The most difficult part of being a good Santa Claus is the hours and hours sitting in a chair, showing a slight smile, taking punches and pushes, a finger in the eye, in the mouth, pulling the beard, etc, etc, etc ... without showing any stress. Because Brazilian children are, as everywhere in the world, bloody nuisances.
Who succeeds and gets his diploma can win a temporary job. Employers offer a salary and expenses. For Papai Noël BRR 900 (USD 400), Mamâe Noël gets BRR 700 (USD 310, difference should exist) and a Noelete goes home with BRR 600 (USD 266), but for both Papai Noël and a Noelete this can rise to about BRR 3,000 (a good USD 1,330). For Mamãe Noel (logically) there is less interest.
The requirements for a Mamãe Noël are identical to Papai, so she should be chubby and lively. For a Noelete it is a bit different, she has to be at least 18 years, attractive and friendly. Many students transform into a Noelete during this month.

It is no surprise that the children are interested in Papai Noel and the fathers thereof prefer to ogle the Noeletes.

My favorite Noelete remains Sabina Sato.
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Do They Blow-Up Christ, the Redeemer?

In an interview in the last issue of the Brazilian weekly Veja the actor Paulo César Pereio spoke about his campaign to get Christ, the Redeemer, one of the Seven New Wonders of the World, imploded. And all that solely because he thinks the statue is a blot to the landscape.

(For the uneducated (I had to look it up myself) imploding is bursting inwards i.e. from the outside to the inside in contrast to explode where the object bursts outwards thus from the inside to the outside, burying Rio de Janeiro under a shower of concrete blocks)

Paulo continues to say: “That statue is an improper disturbance of the landscape. The mountain on which it stands is of great beauty. Christ just disturbs the panoramic view. Why should we maintain such an idiotic puppet there at the top of the mountain?”

The actor (for the reader who never heard of Paulo César Pereio, here is his wiki-link) calls the election of the statue as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, absurd and confirms to have hired a publicity agency to gather signatures for his campaign.

Of course the reactions and comments were rife. “Christ, the Redeemer is homage to Jesus Christ, in other words a religious symbol for the majority of the Brazilian Christians and even for the “heathens”, it is one of the cultural and touristy attractions of Rio de Janeiro.”

The statue stands 39,6 meters (130 ft) high, weighs 700 tons, and is situated at the peak of the 700 m (2,296 ft) Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park, from which it oversees the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The idea to erect a large statue on top of the Corcovado dates from around 1850, but was brushed away in 1889, as Brazil became a republic, with laws separating church and state. The second proposal however, done in 1922, was successful.
The local engineer Heitor da Silva Costa made the first designs of the statue, while the visual artist Carlos Oswald did the final design of the monument, which was sculptured by Paul Landowski, a French sculptor of Polish origin.
A group of engineers and technicians studied Landowski’s plans and decided to use a reinforced concrete structure, which was designed by Albert Caquot.
The outer layers are made from soapstone, as it has sustainable qualities and is easy to carve.

Various historians take the view that the monument was a present from France to Brazil as compensation for the various French attempts to colonise parts of Brazil. This is not an unbelievable supposition as France always has been generous donating statues, among which New York’s Statue of Liberty from 1886.

Modernizing and Devotion go hand in hand
From 20 Jan 2003 on the “cariocas” and the tourists don’t need to climb anymore the 200 carved out steps, which led to the statue. From that day, St Sebastian’s Day, Rio’s patron saint, a set of elevators and escalators were set in motion.

An “invisible” construction
As everybody is used to have an unobstructed view of the statue from any angle and corner of the city, the architect Mauricio Prochnik designed a construction which followed the contours of the northern side of the mountain and be camouflaged by the trees. The design intended to minimize the impact of such a large-scale construction as elevators and escalators on the environment and the visual appearance. The complete construction is painted in a variety of grades of green, and special sun ray reflecting glass was installed. The only part visible is the steel construction, made from special anti-corrosive steel, on which the elevators, escalators and walkways rest.
The 7th of July 2007 Christ, the Redeemer was added to the list of Seven Wonders of the New World published by the in Switzerland based The New Open World Corporation. By the way, the title is not recognised by Unesco.

And now Christ, the Redeemer faces an implosion. But even before the plans could be executed the statue was subject to heated discussions, which divided the country in Catholics and Protestants (ha, the right word). Although it is probably without doubt, that many Protestants from around the world are visiting the statue, the first leaders of the Baptist Church started a controversy on religious principals.

The followers of the Baptist Churches released on 22 of March, 1923 an official note expressing their disgust about the planned construction of Christ, the Redeemer. The note stated, that the construction “will be a portentous prove of idolatry by the Church of Rome” and that it will be an offence to God. “The day this crime will be executed, all real Christians of Brazil should unite in a penance to ask God not to attribute this mortal sin, which is the sole responsibility of the Roman Catholic Church and the government leaders, to the whole of Brazil.” The note continues with “those who have this awkward idea to erect this monument of Christ, the Redeemer, do not have the intention to praise to Christ, but solely want to glorify the Roman Catholicism. ..... They, who pretend to praise to Christ, affront Him and do just that which He absolutely forbade - namely visualise Him in a statue.”

Without doubt Paulo César Pereio's campaign to implode Christ, the Redeemer, will be supported by the Baptists. But forget it, as money always brings home the bacon, so will this tourist attraction, religiously controversial or not, stay where it is. Undisturbed and well cared for.

P.S. Please, don’t mistake this Christ, the Redeemer with the statue, with the same name, high in the Andes on the border of Argentina with Chile. That’s another statue and another story.

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