Any Christian worth their salt can tell you about the Magi, the Wise Men who came from the East to bring the Baby Jesus the most appropriate presents for infants: gold, frankincense and myrrh. In most Western religions, the three Wise Men are Balthazar from Arabia, Melchior from Persia, and Caspar, the friendly Ethiopian.
What most folks in the West don't realize, however, is that the number of Wise Men are not always three. Depending on who you ask, there may be up to twelve Wise Men. The Book of Matthew is the only gospel to mention the Wise Men and he only says that they stopped by with loot. He doesn't actually say how many of them there were.
As proof of the existence of Wise Men who brought alternate gifts, I present to you Exhibit A:
You may be tempted to tell me that this is actually some kind of ethnic Santa and not a Wise Man at all, but I assure you: the tag said "Wise Man" on it, and the tag never lies.
And he's clearly a Wise Man. He's in a robe, he has a beard, he has Siouxsie Sioux eyeliner on. But what really sets this guy out from the rest is his gift. Frankincense? Pah! Myrrh? Who needs it? No, what the baby Jesus wants - what any kid would want, is a live badger.
