GOINGS ON / SANTA BARBARA : Holiday Happenings : Christmas activities around the city include plays, parades, pageants and concerts.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas--not exactly an original statement, but certainly appropriate for Santa Barbara County. No sooner are the Thanksgiving platters washed and piled back into the cupboards than pre-Christmas celebrations hit full stride.

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To borrow another song title . . . Are you dreaming of an ethnic folk art Christmas?

If so, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History would be a good place to do some Christmas shopping this weekend.

Items from North, Central, and South America, and other areas of the world will be on sale at the museum’s Folk and Tribal Arts Marketplace, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

There will be rugs, blankets and pots from Chile; tribal art from Africa, Mexico, Indonesia and the Philippines; jewelry and furniture from Afghanistan; pottery, rugs and blankets from Chile; wood carvings from Haiti and musical instruments from West Africa.

The marketplace will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. all three days. Admission is free.

The museum is at 2559 Puesta del Sol Road. For more information call 682-4711 or 687-7687.

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More historical holiday stuff: The Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation will again stage a production of the Shepherd’s Play, “Una Pastorela.” Shepherd’s Plays, stories of good versus evil, originated in Europe hundreds of years ago and were eventually brought to America by Spanish padres.

The Native American populations added humor, music and drama to these stories, helping develop them into festive theatrical presentations.

Performances will be given at the Presidio Chapel tonight through Saturday, Dec. 10 to 12, and Dec. 15 to 19. The chapel is at 129 E. Canon Perdido. All shows will begin at 8 p.m. Admission is $6 (adults), $5 (seniors) and $4 (children age 12 and younger).

For more information call 965-0093.

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Santa Barbara’s American Scandinavian Foundation will celebrate Christmas and St. Lucia’s Day in one dinner-dance- pageant-filled evening Friday at the Montecito Country Club.

Christmas is self-explanatory, but St. Lucia’s Day may need some explanation.

The Sicilian tale of St. Lucia, the woman who vowed she wouldn’t marry if her sick mother overcame her illness, and in the end was burned at the stake, goes back to the 1st Century.

How it got to Scandinavia is apparently unclear.

What is clear is that the traditional St. Lucia Day, Dec. 13, was also significant to ancient Norsemen, who considered it the longest night of the year. They would stay awake eating and drinking by candlelight seeking the return of the sun god.

In modern times, the occasion is marked in Scandinavian families with the oldest daughter serving coffee and buns early on the morning of Dec. 13. She traditionally dresses in a white gown and wears a crown of candles on her head.

The foundation plans a social hour from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. with dinner and a Lucia pageant to follow. Tickets are $20.

For reservations or more information call 967-3757.

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Santa Barbara’s annual holiday parade, this year dubbed “California Christmas,” will make its way down State Street Saturday morning.

In keeping with the theme, snowmen will be surfing, Santa will be tanning and the reindeer will be going Hollywood (which is good, because after all these years Rudolph should really get himself an agent). There will also be the usual parade trimmings--marching bands and dancers.

The parade will move along State Street from Micheltorena Street to Haley Street, beginning at 10 a.m. and ending about noon.

During the parade, representatives of McDonald’s Restaurants will be collecting unwrapped gifts and canned food from the public to donate to local charities. Parade-goers may also want to take the opportunity to visit De La Guerra Plaza, where an arts and crafts festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information on the parade or the festival call 962-2098.

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For more crafts, try the African American Expo on Sunday at the Franklin Neighborhood Community Center.

There will be many arts items on sale, an art exhibit, food, bands, a presentation by Akoni the Storyteller, and African-American literature. The expo will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Proceeds will benefit the Omega Boys and Girls Club. The community center is at 1136 E. Montecito St. For more information call 652-0933 or 965-8299.

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Coming to you straight from Yountville, Calif., the Magical Moonshine Theatre duo. On Sunday the husband and wife puppeteers will present the season-opener of the “Milk and Cookies” family series, sponsored by Arts Outreach of Los Olivos.

The show, titled “Animal Folktales of the Americas,” will feature “Uncle Rabbit and the Jaguar Queen,” a musical story about water, drought and the greedy rain-forest queen. The performance will be given at the Solvang Royal Scandinavian Inn beginning at 6:30 p.m. The inn is at 400 Alisal Road. Admission is $7 (adults), $4 (children), or $18 (for a family of four). Call 688-9533.

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Ventura’s Debra McKillop is one of eight artists featured in an exhibit now on display in the Maxwell Gallery at the Ridley Tree Education Center in Santa Barbara. All of the artists worked with Priscilla Bender-Shore, who was the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s artist-in-residence.

The multimedia show will run through Dec. 22. There will be a reception today from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The center is at 1600 Santa Barbara St. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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Pianist David Golub will be the featured soloist at the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra’s second concert of the season Tuesday night at the Lobero Theatre. The program will include Respighi’s “Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 1,” Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, and Schubert’s Symphony No. 6, D. 589 in C Major. The performance will begin at 8 p.m. The theater is at 33 E. Canon Perdido St. Tickets are $20, $18, and $15. Call 963-0761.