The image of Santa Claus as a benevolent character became reinforced with its association with charity and philanthropy, particularly by organizations such as the
In some images from the early 20th century, Santa was depicted as personally making his toys by hand in a small workshop like a craftsman. Eventually, the idea emerged that he had numerous elves responsible for making the toys, but the toys were still handmade by each individual elf working in the traditional manner.
In Kyrgyzstan, a mountain peak was named after Santa Claus, after a Swedish company had suggested the location be a more efficient starting place for present-delivering journeys all over the world, than Lapland. In the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek , a Santa Claus Festival was held on 30 December 2007, with government officials attending. 2008 was officially declared the Year of Santa Claus in the country. The events are seen as moves to boost tourism in Kyrgyzstan.[47]
The tradition of Santa Claus being said to enter dwellings through the chimney is shared by many European seasonal gift-givers.[51]
In the United States and Canada, children may leave a glass of milk and a plate of cookies intended for Santa; in Britain and Australia, sherry or beer, and mince pies are left instead. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, it is common for children to leave him rice porridge with sugar and cinnamon instead. In Ireland it is popular to leave Guinness or milk, along with Christmas pudding or mince pies.
In Hungary, St. Nicolaus (Mikulás) or Father Winter (Télapó) comes on the night of 5 December and the children get their gifts the next morning. They get sweets in a bag if they were good, and a golden coloured birch switch if not. On Christmas Eve "Little Jesus" comes and gives gifts for everyone.[52]
In Slovenia, Saint Nicholas (Miklavž) also brings small gifts for good children on the eve of 6 December. Božiček (Christmas Man) brings gifts on the eve of 25 December, and Dedek Mraz (Grandfather Frost) brings gifts in the evening of 31 December to be opened on New Years Day.
spectacles, wearing a red outfit consisting of jacket, trousers and hat all lined with white fur, accessorized with black leather belt and boots, and carrying a bag full of gifts for children. The 1823 poem "
A Visit from St. Nicholas " popularized this image in North America during the 19th century. Caricaturist and political cartoonist
Thomas Nast also played a role in the creation of Santa's image.
[56] [57] [58]
The traditional 1823 Christmas poem A Visit from St. Nicholas relates that Santa has:
"a little round belly That shook when he laugh'd, like a bowl full of jelly"
Though most often portrayed as white , Santa is also depicted as black or of other races. His race or colour is sometimes a subject of controversy.[59] [60]
Laugh
Ho ho ho is the way that many languages write out how Santa Claus laughs. "Ho, ho, ho ! Merry Christmas!" It is the textual rendition of a particular type of deep-throated laugh or chuckle, most associated today with Santa Claus and Father Christmas .
The laughter of Santa Claus has long been an important attribute by which the character is identified, but it also does not appear in many non-English -speaking countries.[citation needed ]
Home
The Santa Claus Village in Lapland
Santa's House at Jerusalem Old City, St. Peter Street
Santa Claus's home is traditionally said to include a residence and a workshop where he is said to create—often with the aid of elves or other supernatural beings—the gifts he is said to deliver to good children at Christmas. Some stories and legends include a village, inhabited by his helpers, surrounding his home and shop.
In North American tradition (in the
Canadian citizenship status to Santa Claus. "The Government of Canada wishes Santa the very best in his Christmas Eve duties and wants to let him know that, as a Canadian citizen, he has the automatic right to re-enter Canada once his trip around the world is complete," Kenney said in an official statement.
[62]
There is also a city named
ZIP code of 99705 as their advertised postal code for Santa Claus. A
Wendy's in North Pole, AK has also claimed to have a "sleigh fly through".
[63]
Each
In France , Santa is believed to reside in 1 Chemin des Nuages, Pôle Nord (1 Alley of Clouds, North Pole). The French national postal service has operated a service that allows children to send letters to Père Noël since 1962.[65] In the period before Christmas, any physical letter in the country that is addressed to Santa Claus is sent to a specific location, where responses for the children's letters are written and sent back to the children.[66]
Parades, department stores, and shopping malls
Eaton's Santa Claus Parade, 1918, Toronto, Canada. Having arrived at the Eaton's department store, Santa is readying his ladder to climb up onto the building.
Representation of Santa Claus in Italy
Actors portraying Santa Claus are present at various venues in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The practice of this has been credited[dubious – discuss ] to James Edgar , as he started doing this in 1890 in his Brockton, Massachusetts department store.[67] Having a Santa actor set up to take pictures with children is a ritual that dates back at least to 1918.[68] An area is often set aside for the actors portraying Santa to use for the duration of the holiday season. It usually features a chair for the actors to sit in surrounded by various holiday-themed decorations. In Canada, malls operated by Oxford Properties established a process by which autistic children could "visit Santa Claus" at the mall without having to contend with crowds.[69] The malls open early to allow entry only to families with autistic children, who have a private visit with the actor portraying Santa Claus. In 2012, the Southcentre Mall in Calgary was the first mall to offer this service.[70]
In the United Kingdom , discount store Poundland changes the voice of its self-service checkouts to that of Santa Claus throughout the Christmas retail period.[71]
There are schools offering instruction on how to act as Santa Claus. For example, children's television producer
Boston Magazine as Santa.
[73] There are associations with members who portray Santa; for example, Mr. Meath was a board member of the international organization called
Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas. [74]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , many Santa grottos were not operating for the 2020 Christmas season. Due to this, some companies offered video calls for a fee using apps such as Zoom where children could speak to an actor who was dressed as Santa Claus.[75]
In 2021, Walt Disney World and Disneyland featured for the first time Black cast members portraying Santa.[76]
Letter writing
Children sometimes write letters to Santa Claus, often with a wish list of presents that they wish to receive.[77] [78] Some postal services recognize this tradition, and may accept letters addressed to "Santa Claus".[79] Writing letters to Santa Claus has the educational benefits of promoting literacy, computer literacy, and e-mail literacy. A letter to Santa is often a child's first experience of correspondence. Written and sent with the help of a parent or teacher, children learn about the structure of a letter, salutations, and the use of an address and postcode .[80]
According to the
James Farley Post Office
[81] in New York, and since 1940 has been called "Operation Santa" to ensure that letters to Santa are adopted by charitable organizations, major corporations, local businesses and individuals in order to fulfill the wishes of children.
[79] Those seeking a
North Pole holiday postmark through the USPS, are told to send their letter from Santa or a holiday greeting card by 10 December to: North Pole Holiday Postmark, Postmaster, 4141 Postmark Dr, Anchorage, AK 99530–9998.
[82]
In 2006, according to the UPU's 2007 study and survey of national postal operations, France's Postal Service received the most letters for Santa Claus or "Père Noël " with 1,220,000 letters received from 126 countries.[83] France's Postal Service in 2007 specially recruited someone to answer the enormous volume of mail that was coming from Russia for Santa Claus.[79]
Other Santa letter processing information, according to the UPU's 2007 study and survey of national postal operations, include:[79]
From 2002 to 2014, Canada Post replied to approximately "one million letters or more a year, and in total answered more than 24.7 million letters";[89] as of 2015, it responds to more than 1.5 million letters per year, "in over 30 languages, including Braille answering them all in the language they are written".[90] The tradition also exists in Great Britain[91] and Finland.[80]
In Latin America, letters are sometimes tied to balloons instead of being sent through the mail.[92]
An example of a public and private cooperative venture is the opportunity for expatriate and local children and parents to receive postmarked mail and greeting cards from Santa during December in the Finnish Embassy in Beijing , People's Republic of China ,[93] Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi , Finland, and the People's Republic of China Postal System's Beijing International Post Office.[94] [95] [96]
Tracking
NOAA's
Weather Bureau Topics with "Santa Claus" streaking across a weather
radar screen, 1958
A number of websites have been created by various organizations that have claimed to track Santa Claus' yearly journey. Some, such as
have not.
1955 Sears ad with the misprinted telephone number that led to the creation of the NORAD Tracks Santa program
NORAD Tracks Santa originated in 1955 when a
Sears-Roebuck ad incorrectly printed the number for their Santa hotline and the
Continental Air Defense Command received the calls intended for the Sears hotline. The program was transferred to NORAD when it was jointly founded by the United States and Canada in 1958.
[107] [108]
In December 2000, the Weather Channel built upon these local efforts to provide a national Christmas Eve "Santa tracking" effort, called "SantaWatch", in cooperation with NASA , the International Space Station , and Silicon Valley -based new multimedia firm Dreamtime Holdings.[109] Currently, most local television stations in the United States and Canada rely upon outside established "Santa tracking" efforts, such as NORAD Tracks Santa.[110]
In addition to providing holiday-themed entertainment, "Santa tracking" websites raise interest in space technology and exploration ,[111] serve to educate children in geography[112] and encourage them to take an interest in science.[113]
Many websites exist that claim to track Santa and his workshop. One particular website called emailSanta.com was created when a 1997 Canada Post strike prevented Alan Kerr's young niece and nephews from sending their letters to Santa; in a few weeks, over 1,000 emails to Santa were received, and the site had received 1,000 emails a day one year later.[114] [115] Some websites, such as Santa's page on Microsoft's former Windows Live Spaces or emailSanta.com, have used or still use "bots " or other automated programs to compose and send personalized and realistic replies.[116] [117] Microsoft's website has given occasional profane results.[118] [119]
Criticism
Opposition from some Christian denominations
Santa Claus has partial Christian roots in
Calvinists such as the
Puritans , disliked the idea of Santa Claus as well as Christmas in general, believing that the lavish celebrations were not in accordance with their faith.
[122] Other
nonconformist Christians condemn the
materialist focus of contemporary gift-giving and see Santa Claus as the symbol of that culture.
[123]
Condemnation of Christmas was prevalent among 17th-century English Puritans and Dutch Calvinists. The
Restoration, although Puritan attitudes toward the holiday remained unfavorable.
[124] In the Dutch
New Netherland colony, season celebrations focused on New Year's Day.
Excerpt from Josiah King's The Examination and Tryal of Father Christmas (1686), published shortly after Christmas was reinstated as a holy day in England
Following the Restoration of the monarchy and with Puritans out of power in England,[125] the ban on Christmas was satirized in works such as Josiah King's The Examination and Tryal of Old Father Christmas ; Together with his Clearing by the Jury (1686).[126]
In 1958, Reverend Paul Nedergaard, a clergyman in
Copenhagen, Denmark, declared Santa a "heathen goblin" (
Danish :
en hedensk trold ) after Santa's image was used on the annual Christmas stamp (
ulemærke ) for a Danish children's welfare organization.
[127]
Mary Baker Eddy , the founder of the Christian Science movement, wrote: "the children should not be taught that Santa Claus has aught to do with this [Christmas] pastime. A deceit or falsehood is never wise. Too much cannot be done towards guarding and guiding well the germinating and inclining thought of childhood. To mould aright the first impressions of innocence, aids in perpetuating purity and in unfolding the immortal model, man in His image and likeness."[128]
Opposition under state atheism
Under the Marxist–Leninist doctrine of state atheism in the Soviet Union after its foundation in 1917, Christmas celebrations—along with other religious holidays—were prohibited as a result of the Soviet antireligious campaign .[129] [130] The League of Militant Atheists encouraged schoolchildren to campaign against Christmas traditions, among them being Santa Claus and the Christmas tree , as well as other Christian holidays including Easter ; the League established an antireligious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement.[131] [132]
In December 2018, the city management office of Langfang in Hebei province , China, released a statement stating that people caught selling Christmas trees, wreaths, stockings or Santa Claus figures in the city would be punished.[133]
Symbol of commercialism
Santa Claus, Sydney, 1933
Jeremy Seal, author of the 2005 book Nicholas: The Epic Journey from Saint to Santa Claus , said in an interview that Santa's 19th-century elements, like reindeer, a sleigh, and bells, were reminiscent of the real world.[134] [relevant? ]
Writing in Mothering magazine, writer Carol Jean-Swanson makes similar points, noting that the original figure of St. Nicholas gave only to those who were needy and that today Santa Claus seems to be more about conspicuous consumption : "He [...] mirrors some of our highest ideals: childhood purity and innocence, selfless giving, unfaltering love, justice, and mercy. [...] The problem is that, in the process, he has become burdened with some of society's greatest challenges: materialism, corporate greed, and domination by the media."[135]
In the Czech Republic, a group of advertising professionals started a website against Santa Claus, a relatively recent phenomenon in that country.
In the United Kingdom, Father Christmas was historically depicted wearing a green cloak.[citation needed ] As Father Christmas has been increasingly merged into the image of Santa Claus, that has been changed to the more commonly known red suit.[137] Santa had been portrayed in a red suit in the 19th century by Thomas Nast among others.[138] [relevant? ]
A law in the U.S. state of Ohio prohibits the usage of Santa Claus or his image to sell alcoholic beverages.[139]
Representation to children
Parent-initiated activities, like visiting a Santa actor at a shopping center, promote belief in Santa Claus by young children.[140]
Psychologists generally differentiate between telling fictional stories that feature Santa Claus and actively deceiving a child into believing that Santa Claus is real.
fictional characters are real, is valuable. Actively deceiving a child into believing in Santa Claus's real-world existence, sometimes even to the extent of fabricating false evidence to convince them despite their growing natural doubts, does not result in imaginative play and can promote
credulity in the face of strong evidence against Santa Claus's existence.
[141] [142] Children will eventually know that their parents deceived them.
[143]
Babies and toddlers do not understand the concept of a fictional character, but most children become developmentally able to "believe in" Santa Claus around age three or four.[144] [140] The prevalence of belief in Santa Claus is high at age five, and declines precipitously when children are seven or eight years old.[145] [146] [147] [148] Although the age at disillusionment has been fairly stable for decades – in 1978, 85% of American five year olds believed that Santa was real, but only 25% of eight year olds still did – it may be getting slightly lower over time.[149]
Psychology professor Jacqueline Woolley helped conduct a study that found that children seemed competent in their use of logic, evidence, and comparative reasoning even though they might conclude that Santa Claus or other fanciful creatures were real. According to Woolley, the existence of Santa Claus is affirmed to children by "friends, books, TV and movies" and by "hard evidence" of "half-eaten cookies and empty milk glasses".[150]
Typical objections to presenting Santa Claus as a literally real person, rather than a story, include:
that
that parents intentionally lying to their children promotes distrust,[142]
that it promotes selfishness , greed , and materialism ,[151]
that it associates good behavior with being materially rewarded with presents from Santa Claus,[151] and
that tricking children into believing falsehoods interferes with the development of critical thinking .[152] [141]
Some have argued that Santa Claus prioritizes parents' short-term happiness in seeing children excited about Santa Claus, and their nostalgic willingness to prolong the age of magical thinking , over children.[142] Philosopher David Kyle Johnson wrote, "It's a lie, it degrades your parental trustworthiness, it encourages credulity, it does not encourage imagination, and it's equivalent to bribing your kids for good behavior."[153]
Others see little harm in the belief in Santa Claus. Psychologist Tamar Murachver said that because it is a cultural, not parental, lie, it does not usually undermine parental trust.religious beliefs on the grounds that if the parents lied about the existence of Santa Claus, then they might lie about the
existence of God as well.
[142] The
New Zealand Skeptics also see no harm in parents telling their children that Santa is real. Spokesperson
Vicki Hyde said, "It would be a hard-hearted parent indeed who frowned upon the innocent joys of our children's cultural heritage. We save our bah humbugs for the things that exploit the vulnerable."
[154]
See also
Related figures
Amu Nowruz — "Uncle New Year"; Iranian gift-bringing figure associated with spring and the new year in the traditional Iranian calendar
Ayaz Ata — Grandfather Frost in Turkic folklore
Badalisc
Befana — a friendly witch who delivers gifts to children on 5 January
Companions of Saint Nicholas
Joulupukki — Finnish Santa Claus
Moș Gerilă — name of a character from Romanian communist propaganda
Olentzero — traditional Basque character who has recently been transformed into a Santa-like figure
Greek Orthodox
tradition
The Three Kings — The Biblical three wise men brings gifts on 6 January in Spain
Other
References
Citations
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^ Echo of Islam . MIG. 1993. In the former Soviet Union, fir trees were usually put up to mark New Year's day, following a tradition established by the officially atheist state.
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. The League sallied forth to save the day from this putative religious revival. Antireligioznik obliged with so many articles that it devoted an entire section of its annual index for 1928 to anti-religious training in the schools. More such material followed in 1929, and a flood of it the next year. It recommended what Lenin and others earlier had explicitly condemned—carnivals, farces, and games to intimidate and purge the youth of religious belief. It suggested that pupils campaign against customs associated with Christmas (including Christmas trees) and Easter. Some schools, the League approvingly reported, staged an anti-religious day on the 31st of each month. Not teachers but the League's local set the programme for this special occasion.
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General and cited references
Belk, Russell. 1989. "Materialism with the modern U.S. Christmas Archived 1 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine ". In Interpretive Consumer Research, ed. by Elizabeth C. Hirschman, Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 75–104.
Bowler, Gerry, Editor (2004). The World Encyclopedia of Christmas Archived 28 October 2012 at the (0-7710-1535-6)
Bowler, Gerry, (2007). Santa Claus: A Biography Archived 28 October 2012 at the (0-7710-1668-9)
Crump, William D. Editor (2006). The Christmas Encyclopedia , 2nd edition Archived 9 March 2012 at the
Nissenbaum, Stephen (1997). The Battle for Christmas Archived 6 October 2021 at the (0-679-74038-4)
Further reading
External links