HAVANA, Dec 21 (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 on 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 labour 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 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."

                  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.

                   Copyright 1998 Reuters.