It’s about time we got to Santa Claus and here we are.
7. Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas is Santa Claus in Dutch. In fact it’s the Middle Dutch name for Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children, who evolved into the jolly red-suited guy, who magically descends down chimneys into which he surely would not fit. What you probably don’t know is that St Nicholas is also the patron saint of of sailors, merchants, archers and pawnbrokers. That might seem like an overdose of patronage, but there’s never been enough saints to go round, so trades and retailers just have to share.
Saint Nicholas was born in the 3rd century in Asia Minor (or Turkey as we now call it). He was raised to be a devout Christian and his parents, who were not-short-of-a-bob-or two, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Taking the New Testament literally (“sell what you own and give to the poor”) Nicholas used his considerable inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. Because he set such an example, he was made Bishop of Myra while still young.
As bad luck would have it, Roman Emperor Diocletian was in power and doing his best to eliminate Christianity, through the destruction of churches, the prohibition of Christian worship, and the arrest and frequent execution of bishops and anyone else of authority within the church. In Rome, Christians were cat food at the Coliseum.
St Nicholas got caught up in Diocletian’s purge. He was exiled and imprisoned, but returned to Myra when Constantine became emperor and Christianity was no longer despised. He died in AD 343 in Myra and, it is said, a liquid substance called manna that had healing powers formed in his grave. So he was canonized and the anniversary of his death was celebrated far and wide.
The date of his death was 6th December, not the 25th. He neither saw a sleigh nor met with a reindeer in his whole life and he knew nothing of elves, since elves are a German idea.
So where did the fat guy in the red suit come from?
He evolved in true Darwinian fashion. The original Santa Claus was a pagan god, he was Woden of the Germanic myths (or Odin if you’re Norse). Woden was a hugely important god, regarded sometimes as the head of the pantheon. Tradition had it that Woden led a hunting party across the sky, not so much being pulled by reindeer as chasing after them with spears and arrows.
He rode a flying horse with eight legs, called Sleipnir, and at Hwoelor-tid children would leave their boots near the chimney filled with carrots and straw for Sleipnir. Woden, a fit old god with a long white beard, would reward the children with gifts.
Santa Claus is St Nicholas crossbred with Woden. While St. Nicholas knew nothing of elves, Woden lived amongst them. St Nicholas was said to have put gold coins into empty shoes, whereas Woden exchanged gifts for carrot and straw, taken from children’s shoes. St Nicholas Day is Dec 6th but Woden came at Yuletide.
Father Christmas, by the way, is neither Woden not St Nicholas. He’s a Santa-come-lately of British origin. He was first mentioned in the 17th century by Ben Jonson’s in the masque entitled Christmas, His Masque (a masque is a musical play or entertainment) – and hence is probably Jonson’s invention. He was never characterized as bringing gifts, he just brought good cheer. He makes a guest appearance in Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol as the Ghost of Christmas Present, taking Ebenezer Scrooge on a jaunt through the streets of London to witness the Christmas joy of the hoi polloi.
Dickens described Father Christmas as wearing his traditional green suit.
Woden, Santa Claus and Father Christmas merged with the passage of time. None of them were as rotund and overweight as the present day character, but hundreds of depictions of Santa Claus in the 19th Century by US caricaturist Thomas Nast did a great deal to fix us all with the jovial fat guy image. The final Santa Claus detail was added by Coca Cola in the 1930s. In an ad campaign, he was given a red suit with a white furry trim. Coca Cola was trying to ensure that Santa wore a Coca-Cola-red suit, so it invested heavily in advertising that image.
Coca Cola’s marketing muscle swamped all previous depictions of Santa to give us the modern image.
The following are links to all the Xmas words: #1 Hwoelor-tid, #2 Brumalia, #3 Protomartyr, #4 Dulocracy, #5 Pohutukawa, #6 Hagiolatry, #7 Sinterklaas, #8 Prolicide, #9 Apophoret,#10 Kenosis,#11 Psilanthropy,#12 Parepochism
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~ Napoleon Bonaparte
