HOUSTON – Pancho Claus is a rich tradition of giving that spreads throughout the Lone Star state. Pancho Claus is known as Santa Claus’ cousin from the South Pole. Richard Reyes, also known as Houston’s Pancho Claus, has dressed up in a zoot suit and made appearances in his low rider sleigh for Christmas for more than 40 years.
“People ask me all the time, is there a Santa Claus?” Reyes has said. “I’m like, yes, he’s my primo. He’s my cousin. We call him (the white guy).”
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Reyes is the Bayou City’s Pancho Claus, but there are Pancho Clauses all around Texas with their own flair and traditions. The Associated Press said the “Tex-Mex Santa grew out of the Chicano civil rights movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s.” You can read that Associated Press feature here about Pancho Claus that we found incredibly helpful when writing this piece and understanding the greater picture of the Pancho Claus movement across the state.
Reyes, who is featured in that report, reportedly took on the role in the early 1980s after his teenage sister was killed in a drive-by shooting. He took on the persona of Pancho Claus for a community-based acting effort with the group Talento Bilingue de Houston. He jumped in to help tell the story for a short show that he performed in that retold the story of “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Reyes assumed the character of Pancho Claus who comes into houses through the bathroom window instead of the chimney because many homes didn’t have them in the predominantly Hispanic Second Ward neighborhood of his telling. To give you a sampling of the show -- one of its lines is, “What to my wondering eyes should appear, but eight low rider cars all jacked out in the rear.”
The show established Reyes’ persona of Pancho Claus and he eventually started getting letters and gifts to give out to children. That effort has become a Houston-wide effort to give children toys.
Watch this Vice feature on Reyes in the publication’s “Local Legends” series.
His catchphrase is “Feliz Navidad todos, if you have one, I’ll ride.”
Over the years the Pancho Claus story has continued. This year, amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Reyes’ Pancho Claus’ efforts were hampered due to cutbacks in giving, but a recent donation turned everything around.
See photos of Pancho Claus through the years from KPRC 2′s photo archive below.
What’s your favorite Pancho Claus memory? Have you ever received a gift from him? Share your stories with us in the comments.