AIBU to think images of Santo Niňo Jesus are deliberately creepy?

[MRex]

DH was questioning which countries Santa went to (related to a discussion about how many boozy drinks he was given per year). So we discovered the concept of Niňo Jesus in South America, who leaves presents on Christmas Eve. The statues though, every single one of them looks really creepy! Imagine finding this creature in the corner of your living room dropping off gifts:
images.app.goo.gl/hL5YkxvpxC3Q5vqF9

Part of me is surprised they can make an infant so ugly, given that most babies and toddlers are cute, but mostly I'm wondering why they make him ugly. AIBU to think they must be deliberately making these images creepy?

I was expecting some sort of deformed ghoul! That's not creepy.

Try googling re-born dolls then I will agree with you!

Ha ha. Well I don't know what I was expecting to see, but an image of my work colleague S. who is an almost 50 year old woman wasn't it.

It's someone else's culture. I think you are being rude.

Baby Jesus also brings presents in some countries in Europe. On Christmas Eve.

The statue is nkt ugly. It's pretty standard church statue

Elf on the shelf is creepier....

YABU. They look typical of the way babies used to be depicted in art before a certain period. Slightly odd and not realistically baby-like, but not creepy. And I can't imagine why you'd think anyone would deliberately want them to be creepy.

Have you seen old horse paintings? Niw taht is something 😂

@SchrodingersImmigrant - that's interesting, which countries have the baby? Is it a general split that every country gets either an old man or a baby dropping off presents, or do some countries have a mixture / no supernatural gifts?

@00100001 - We haven't had an Elf on the Shelf, what is it supposed to do? I vaguely think it creates mischief each night?

😁

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christkind

He looks drunk to me 😂 so it’s basically back to your original conversation re Santa’s alcohol consumption!

I’d agree with lazylinguist though, it is just how babies used to be modelled ie small adults.

Why is a naked toddler delivering presents, that's a safeguarding issue right there!

@LEELULUMPKIN - the reborn dolls look like real babies, they're quite cute! You could create an interesting horror film based on them (and filming baby stunts just got easy), but you need to add storyline to get any creep factor.

He watches your kids and reports back to Santa every night about their behaviour....

@wirldsgonemad

Why is a naked toddler delivering presents, that's a safeguarding issue right there!

😂😂😂

@00100001

He watches your kids and reports back to Santa every night about their behaviour....

Now THAT is a safeguarding issue @wirldsgonemad👀😂

@SchrodingersImmigrant

😁

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

That horse is ace!!! It's like a horse-faced woodlouse!
Did it get extra legs, or is that it's penis and tail lined up between its legs?

@00100001 - how do we know he's spying for Santa? He could be spying for the Russians.

maybe Santa is Russian...

The art at that times was sometimes nightmare inducing, but it is often because they had only so many tools and materials to work with. It was much easier to get an adult to snad there to model the face rather than the baby.

Some medieval and very old paintings are hilarious. With more exotic animals, it's simply because the artist probably never ever saw them so drew from description. Just google medieval elephant painting.

Extra horse for y'all.

Cold place, lots of snow, likes booze... it's plausible.

@00100001

maybe Santa is Russian...

Turkish I think😁

How do you show the image as a thumbnail please?

Years ago I saw a compilation video from (I think) the Czech Republic, where a demon goes round to check whether kids have been naughty and if so they’ll be taken to hell. The kids were literally terrified and screaming.

I’ll take the baby Jesus Santa over that any day.