The modern portrayal of Santa Claus frequently depicts him listening to the Christmas wishes of children
Santa Claus, also known as
Saint Nicholas,
Father Christmas,
Kris Kringle and simply "
Santa", is a figure with
legendary, historical and
folkloric origins who, in many
Western cultures, is said to bring gifts to the homes of the good children on 24 December,
the night before
Christmas Day. However, in some European countries children receive their presents on
St. Nicholas' Day, 6 December.
The modern figure of Santa Claus is derived from the Dutch figure of
Sinterklaas, whose name is a dialectal pronunciation of
Saint Nicholas, the historical Greek
bishop and gift-giver of
Myra. During the
Christianization of
Germanic Europe, this figure may have absorbed elements of the god
Odin, who was associated with the Germanic pagan midwinter event of
Yule and led the
Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession through the sky.
Santa Claus is generally depicted as a portly, joyous, white-
bearded man—sometimes with
spectacles—wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers, and black leather belt and boots and who carries a bag full of gifts for children. Images of him rarely have a beard with no
moustache. This image became popular in the United States and Canada in the 19th century due to the significant influence of the 1823 poem "
A Visit From St. Nicholas" and of caricaturist and political cartoonist
Thomas Nast.
[1][2][3] This image has been maintained and reinforced through
song, radio, television, children's books and films.
Since the 20th century, in an idea popularized by the 1934 song "
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", Santa Claus has been believed to make a list of children throughout the world, categorizing them according to their behavior ("naughty" or "nice") and to deliver presents, including toys, and candy to all of the well-behaved children in the world, and sometimes coal to the naughty children, on the single night of Christmas Eve. He accomplishes this feat with the aid of the elves who make the toys in the
workshop and the flying
reindeer who pull his sleigh.
[4][5] He is commonly portrayed as living at the
North Pole and saying "
ho ho ho" often.
Predecessor figures
Saint Nicholas
Main article:
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra was a 4th-century
Greek Christian bishop of
Myra (now
Demre) in
Lycia, a province of the
Byzantine Empire, now in Turkey. Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with
dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes.
[6] He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. In continental Europe (more precisely the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Germany) he is usually portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes.
The remains of Saint Nicholas are in Italy. In 1087, the Italian city of
Bari mounted an expedition to locate the tomb of the Saint. The reliquary of St. Nicholas was conquered by Italian sailors and his
relics were taken to Bari
[7][8] where they are kept to this day. A
basilicawas constructed the same year to store the loot and the area became a
pilgrimage site for the devout. Sailors from Bari collected just half of Nicholas' skeleton, leaving all the minor fragments in the grave. These were collected by Venetian sailors during the
First Crusadeand taken to
Venice, where a church to St. Nicholas, the patron of sailors, was built on the
San Nicolò al Lido. This tradition was confirmed in two important scientific investigations of the relics in
Bari and
Venice, which revealed that the relics in the two Italian cities belong to the same skeleton. Saint Nicholas was later claimed as a
patron saint of many diverse groups, from
archers, sailors, and children to
pawnbrokers.
[6][9] He is also the patron saint of both
Amsterdam and Moscow.
[10]
During the Middle Ages, often on the evening before his name day of 6 December, children were bestowed gifts in his honour. This date was earlier than the original day of gifts for the children, which moved in the course of the Reformation and its opposition to the veneration of saints in many countries on the 24 and 25 December. So Saint Nicholas changed to Santa Claus. The custom of gifting of children at Christmas has been propagated by
Martin Luther as an alternative to the previous very popular gift custom on St. Nicholas, to focus the interest of the children to Christ instead of the veneration of saints.
Martin Luther first suggested the
Christkind as the bringer of gifts. But Nicholas remained popular as gifts bearer for the people.
[11][12][13]
Germanic paganism, Odin, and Christianization
Prior to Christianization, the
Germanic peoples (including the English) celebrated a midwinter event called
Yule (Old English
geola or
guili).
[14] With the Christianization of Germanic Europe, numerous traditions were absorbed from Yuletide celebrations into modern Christmas.
[15] During this period, supernatural and ghostly occurrences were said to increase in frequency, such as the
Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession through the sky. The leader of the wild hunt is frequently attested as the god
Odin and he bears the Old Norse names
Jólnir, meaning "yule figure" and the name
Langbarðr, meaning "long-beard" (see
list of names of Odin).
[16]
The god Odin's role during the Yuletide period has been theorized as having influenced concepts of St. Nicholas in a variety of facets, including his long white beard and his gray horse for nightly rides (see Odin's horse
Sleipnir), which was traded for reindeer in North America.
[17] Margaret Baker comments that "The appearance of Santa Claus or Father Christmas, whose day is 25th of December, owes much to Odin, the old blue-hooded, cloaked, white-bearded Giftbringer of the north, who rode the midwinter sky on his eight-footed steed
Sleipnir, visiting his people with gifts.
… Odin, transformed into Father Christmas, then Santa Claus, prospered with St Nicholas and the Christchild became a leading player on the Christmas stage."
[18]
Dutch folklore
Sinterklaas, Netherlands (2009) on his horse called
Slecht Weer Vandaagor
Amerigo
In the Netherlands and Belgium, next to
Sinterklaas, the character of Santa Claus is also known. He is known as
de Kerstman in Dutch ("the Christmas man") and
Père Noël ("Father Christmas") in French. But for children in the Netherlands Sinterklaas is the predominant gift-giver in December (36% of the population only give presents on Sinterklaas day), Christmas is used by another fifth of the Dutch population to give presents. (21% give presents on Christmas only). Some 26% of the Dutch population give presents on both days.
[19] In Belgium, presents are given to children only, but to almost all of them, on Sinterklaas day. On Christmas Day, everybody receives presents, but often without Santa Claus's help. In the Netherlands Sinterklaas' helper is
Zwarte Piet not an elf.
[20]
Father Christmas
Folk tale depiction of Father Christmas riding on a goat.
Father Christmas dates back as far as 16th century in
England during the reign of
Henry VIII, when he was pictured as a large man in green or scarlet robes lined with fur.
[21] He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, bringing peace, joy, good food and wine and revelry.
[21] As England no longer kept the
feast day of Saint Nicholas on 6 December, the Father Christmas celebration was moved to 25 December to coincide with Christmas Day.
[21] The Victorian revival of Christmas included Father Christmas as the emblem of 'good cheer'.
[22] His physical appearance was variable, with one famous image being
John Leech'sillustration of the "Ghost of Christmas Present" in
Charles Dickens's festive classic
A Christmas Carol(1843), as a great genial man in a green coat lined with fur who takes Scrooge through the bustling streets of London on the current Christmas morning, sprinkling the essence of Christmas onto the happy populace.
[21][22]
Father Christmas is now widely seen as synonymous with the Santa Claus figure.
History
Origins
Pre-modern representations of the gift-giver from Church history and folklore, notably St Nicholas (known in
Dutch as Sinterklaas), merged with the English character Father Christmas to create the character known to Americans and the rest of the English-speaking world as Santa Claus.
In the
English and later British colonies of North America, and later in the United States, British and Dutch versions of the gift-giver merged further. For example, in
Washington Irving's
History of New York (1809),
Sinterklaas was Americanized into "Santa Claus" (a name first used in the American press in 1773)
[23] but lost his bishop's apparel, and was at first pictured as a thick-bellied Dutch sailor with a pipe in a green winter coat. Irving's book was a
lampoon of the Dutch culture of New York, and much of this portrait is his joking invention.
19th century
"December 24, 1864. This has usually been a very busy day with me, preparing for Christmas not only for my own tables, but for gifts for my servants. Now how changed! No confectionary, cakes, or pies can I have. We are all sad; no loud, jovial laugh from our boys is heard. Christmas Eve, which has ever been gaily celebrated here, which has witnessed the popping of firecrackers … and the hanging up of stockings, is an occasion now of sadness and gloom. I have nothing even to put in 8-year-old daughter Sadai's stocking, which hangs so invitingly for Santa Claus. How disappointed she will be in the morning, though I have explained to her why he cannot come. Poor children! Why must the innocent suffer with the guilty?"
Diary of Dolly Lunt Burge, a Maine native, widow of Thomas Burge, and resident living c. 40 miles southeast of Atlanta near
Covington, Georgia. This entry from Mrs. Burge's diary was five weeks after most of General T. Sherman's U.S. Army forces had passed on their blackened-earth "march across Georgia" toward Savanna, after the army's destruction of Atlanta in mid-November 1864. U.S. Army mop-up companies and stragglers during those intervening weeks continued to "forage", loot, burn, and liberate slaves, hence, the concern of Mrs. Burge and her household.
[24]
In 1821, the book
A New-year's present, to the little ones from five to twelve was published in New York. It contained
Old Santeclaus, an anonymous poem describing an old man on a reindeer sleigh, bringing presents to children.
[25]Some modern ideas of Santa Claus seemingly became
canon after the anonymous publication of the poem "
A Visit From St. Nicholas" (better known today as "The Night Before Christmas") in the
Troy, New York,
Sentinel on 23 December 1823; the poem was later attributed to
Clement Clarke Moore.
[6] Many of his modern attributes are established in this poem, such as riding in a
sleigh that lands on the roof, entering through the chimney, and having a bag full of toys. St. Nick is described as being "chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf" with "a little round belly", that "shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly", in spite of which the "miniature sleigh" and "tiny reindeer" still indicate that he is physically diminutive. The
reindeer were also named: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blixem (Dunder and Blixem came from the old Dutch words for thunder and lightning, which were later changed to the more German sounding Donner and Blitzen).
[26]
As the years passed, Santa Claus evolved in popular culture into a large, heavyset person. One of the first artists to define Santa Claus's modern image was
Thomas Nast, an American
cartoonist of the 19th century. In 1863, a picture of Santa illustrated by Nast appeared in
Harper's Weekly.
Thomas Nastimmortalized Santa Claus with an illustration for the 3 January 1863 issue of
Harper's Weekly. Note that Santa is dressed in an
American flag, and has a puppet with the name "
Jeff" written on it, reflecting its Civil War context.
The story that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole may also have been a Nast creation. His Christmas image in the
Harper's issue dated 29 December 1866 was a collage of engravings titled
Santa Claus and His Works, which included the caption "Santa Claussville, N.P."
[27] A color collection of Nast's pictures, published in 1869, had a poem also titled "Santa Claus and His Works" by George P. Webster, who wrote that Santa Claus's home was "near the North Pole, in the ice and snow".
[28] The tale had become well known by the 1870s. A boy from
Coloradowriting to the children's magazine
The Nursery in late 1874 said, "If we did not live so very far from the North Pole, I should ask Santa Claus to bring me a donkey."
[29]
The idea of a wife for Santa Claus may have been the creation of American authors, beginning in the mid-19th century. In 1889, the poet
Katharine Lee Batespopularized
Mrs. Claus in the poem "Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride".
"Is There a Santa Claus?" was the title of an editorial appearing in the 21 September 1897 edition of
The New York Sun. The editorial, which included the famous reply "
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus", has become an indelible part of popular Christmas lore in the United States and Canada.
20th century
Hanging up stockings for Santa Claus, Ohio, 1928.
L. Frank Baum's
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, a 1902
children's book, further popularized Santa Claus. Much of Santa Claus's mythos was not set in stone at the time, leaving Baum to give his "Neclaus" (Necile's Little One) a wide variety of immortal support, a home in the Laughing Valley of Hohaho, and
ten reindeer—who could not fly, but leapt in enormous, flight-like bounds. Claus's
immortality was earned, much like his title ("Santa"), decided by a vote of those naturally immortal. This work also established Claus's motives: a happy childhood among immortals. When Ak, Master Woodsman of the World, exposes him to the misery and poverty of children in the outside world, Santa strives to find a way to bring joy into the lives of all children, and eventually invents toys as a principal means.
Images of Santa Claus were further popularized through
Haddon Sundblom's depiction of him for
The Coca-Cola Company's Christmas advertising in the 1930s.
[6][30] The popularity of the image spawned
urban legends that Santa Claus was invented by The Coca-Cola Company or that Santa wears red and white because they are the colors used to promote the Coca-Cola brand.
[31] Historically, Coca-Cola was not the first
soft drink company to utilize the modern image of Santa Claus in its advertising—
White Rock Beverages had already used a red and white Santa to sell
mineral water in 1915 and then in advertisements for its
ginger ale in 1923.
[32][33][34] Earlier still, Santa Claus had appeared dressed in red and white and essentially in his current form on several covers of
Puck magazine in the first few years of the 20th century.
[35]
The image of Santa Claus as a benevolent character became reinforced with its association with charity and philanthropy, particularly by organizations such as the
Salvation Army. Volunteers dressed as Santa Claus typically became part of
fundraising drives to aid needy families at Christmas time.
In 1937,
Charles W. Howard, who played Santa Claus in department stores and parades, established the Charles W. Howard Santa School, the oldest continuously-run such school in the world.
[36]
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.
The 1956 popular song by
George Melachrino, "Mrs. Santa Claus", and the 1963 children's book
How Mrs. Santa Claus Saved Christmas, by
Phyllis McGinley, helped standardize and establish the character and role of
Mrs. Claus in the popular imagination.
In popular culture
By the end of the 20th century, the reality of mass mechanized production became more fully accepted by the Western public.
[citation needed] That shift was reflected in the modern depiction of Santa's residence—now often humorously portrayed as a fully mechanized production and distribution facility, equipped with the latest manufacturing technology, and overseen by the elves with Santa and Mrs. Claus as executives and/or managers.
[37] An excerpt from a 2004 article, from a supply chain managers' trade magazine, aptly illustrates this depiction:
Santa's main
distribution center is a sight to behold. At 4,000,000 square feet (370,000 m
2), it's one of the world's largest facilities. A real-time
warehouse management system (WMS) is of course required to run such a complex. The facility makes extensive use of task interleaving, literally combining dozens of DC activities (putaway, replenishing, order picking, sleigh loading, cycle counting) in a dynamic queue...the DC elves have been on engineered standards and incentives for three years, leading to a 12% gain in
productivity...The WMS and transportation system are fully integrated, allowing (the elves) to make optimal decisions that balance transportation and order picking and other DC costs. Unbeknownst to many, Santa actually has to use many sleighs and fake Santa drivers to get the job done Christmas Eve, and the
transportation management system (TMS) optimally builds thousands of consolidated sacks that maximize cube utilization and minimize total air miles.
[38]
Santa is really the only cultural icon we have who's male, does not carry a gun, and is all about peace, joy, giving, and caring for other people. That's part of the magic for me, especially in a culture where we've become so commercialized and hooked into manufactured icons. Santa is much more organic, integral, connected to the past, and therefore connected to the future.
Many television commercials,
comic strips and other media depict this as a sort of humorous business, with
Santa's elvesacting as a sometimes mischievously disgruntled workforce, cracking jokes and pulling pranks on their boss. For instance, a
Bloom County story from 15 December 1981 through 24 December 1981 has Santa rejecting the demands of PETCO (Professional Elves Toy-Making and Craft Organization) for higher wages, a hot tub in the locker room, and "short broads,” with the elves then going on strike.
President Reagan steps in, fires all of Santa's helpers, and replaces them with out-of-work
air traffic controllers (an obvious reference to the
1981 air traffic controllers' strike), resulting in a riot before Santa vindictively rehires them in humiliating new positions such as his reindeer.
[40] In
The Sopranos episode, "
...To Save Us All from Satan's Power",
Paulie Gualtieri says he "Used to think Santa and Mrs. Claus were running a
sweatshop over there.
...The original elves were ugly, traveled with Santa to throw bad kids a beatin', and gave the good ones toys."
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.
[41]
The
Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of Santa Clauses is held by Derry City, Northern Ireland. On 9 September 2007. A total of 12,965 people dressed up as Santa or Santa's helper brought down the previous record of 3,921, which was set during the Santa Dash event in Liverpool City Centre in 2005.
[42] A gathering of Santas in 2009 in Bucharest, Romania attempted top the world record, but failed with only 3939 Santas.
[43]
Traditions and rituals
Chimney tradition
The tradition of Santa Claus entering dwellings through the chimney is shared by many European seasonal gift-givers. In pre-Christian Norse tradition, Odin would often enter through chimneys and fire holes on the solstice.
[citation needed] In the Italian
Befanatradition, the gift-giving witch is perpetually covered with soot from her trips down the chimneys of children's homes. In the tale of Saint Nicholas, the saint tossed coins through a window, and, in a later version of the tale, down a chimney when he finds the window locked. In Dutch artist
Jan Steen's painting,
The Feast of Saint Nicholas, adults and toddlers are glancing up a chimney with amazement on their faces while other children play with their toys. The hearth was held sacred in primitive belief as a source of beneficence, and popular belief had elves and fairies bringing gifts to the house through this portal. Santa's entrance into homes on Christmas Eve via the chimney was made part of American tradition through the poem
"A Visit from St. Nicholas" where the author described him as an elf.
[44]
Christmas Eve rituals
In the United States and Canada, children traditionally leave Santa a glass of milk and a plate of
cookies; in Britain and Australia, he is sometimes given
sherry or beer, and
mince pies instead. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, it is common for children to leave him rice porridge with cinnamon sugar instead. In Ireland it is popular to give him
Guinness or milk, along with
Christmas pudding or mince pies.
In Hungary, St. Nicolaus (Mikulás) 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 colored birch switch if not. On Christmas Eve "Little Jesus" comes and gives gifts for everyone.
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.
New Zealander, British, Australian, Irish, Canadian, and American children also leave a carrot for Santa's reindeer, and were traditionally told that if they are not good all year round, that they will receive a lump of coal in their stockings, although this practice is now considered archaic. Children following the Dutch custom for
sinterklaas will "put out their shoe" (leave hay and a carrot for his horse in a shoe before going to bed, sometimes weeks before the
sinterklaas avond). The next morning they will find the hay and carrot replaced by a gift; often, this is a
marzipan figurine. Naughty children were once told that they would be left a
roe (a bundle of sticks) instead of sweets, but this practice has been discontinued.
Other Christmas Eve Santa Claus rituals in the United States include reading
A Visit from St. Nicholas or other tale about Santa Claus, watching a Santa or Christmas-related animated program on television (such as the aforementioned
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town and similar specials, such as
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, among many others), and the singing of Santa Claus songs such as "
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", "
Here Comes Santa Claus", and "
Up on the House Top". Last minute rituals for children before going to bed include aligning stockings at the mantelpiece or other place where Santa cannot fail to see them, peeking up the chimney (in homes with a fireplace), glancing out a window and scanning the heavens for Santa's sleigh, and (in homes without a fireplace) unlocking an exterior door so Santa can easily enter the house. Tags on gifts for children are sometimes signed by their parents "From Santa Claus" before the gifts are laid beneath the tree.
Home
Santa Claus's home traditionally includes a residence and a workshop where he creates—often with the aid of elves or other supernatural beings—the gifts he delivers 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 United States and Canada), Santa lives on the North Pole, which according to Canada Post lies within Canadian jurisdiction in postal code H0H 0H0 (a reference to "ho ho ho", Santa's notable saying, although postal codes starting with H are usually reserved for the island of Montreal in Québec). On 23 December 2008,
Jason Kenney, Canada's minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, formally awarded 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.
[45]
There is also a city named
North Pole in
Alaska where a tourist attraction known as the "Santa Claus House" has been established. The
US postal service uses the city's 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".
[46]
Parades, department stores, and shopping malls
Santa Claus appears in the weeks before Christmas in
department stores or shopping malls, or at parties. The practice of this has been credited to
James Edgar, as he started doing this in 1890 in his
Brockton, Massachusetts department store.
[47]He is played by an actor, usually helped by other actors (often mall employees) dressed as elves or other creatures of folklore associated with Santa. Santa's function is either to promote the store's image by distributing small gifts to children, or to provide a seasonal experience to children by listening to their wishlist while having them sit on his knee (a practice now under review by some organisations in Britain,
[48] and Switzerland
[49]). Sometimes a photograph of the child and Santa are taken. Having a Santa set up to take pictures with children is a ritual that dates back at least to 1918.
[50]
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.
Giant Santa Claus, Philippines.
The area set up for this purpose is festively decorated, usually with a large throne, and is called variously "Santa's Grotto", "Santa's Workshop" or a similar term. In the United States, the most notable of these is the Santa at the flagship
Macy's store in New York City—he arrives at the store by sleigh in the
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the last float, and his court takes over a large portion of one floor in the store. This was popularized by the 1947 film
Miracle on 34th Street with Santa Claus being called Kris Kringle. The Macy's Santa Claus in New York City is often said to be the real Santa. Essayist
David Sedaris is known for the satirical
SantaLand Diaries he kept while working as an elf in the Macy's display, which were turned into a famous radio segment and later published.
Quite often the Santa, if and when he is detected to be fake, explains that he is not the real Santa and is helping him at this time of year. Most young children accept this explanation. At family parties, Santa is sometimes impersonated by the male head of the household or other adult male family member.
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.
[51] The malls open early to allow entry only to families with autistic children, who have a private visit with Santa Claus. In 2012, the
Southcentre Mall in Calgary was the first mall to offer this service.
[52]
Santa Claus portrayed by children's television producer
Jonathan Meath.
There are schools offering instruction on how to act as Santa Claus. For example, children's television producer
Jonathan Meath studied at the International School of Santa Claus and earned the degree
Master of Santa Claus in 2006. It blossomed into a second career for him, and after appearing in parades and malls,
[53] he appeared on the cover of the American monthly
Boston Magazine as Santa.
[54] There are associations with members who portray Santa; for example, Mr. Meath is a board member of the international organization called
Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas.[55]
Letter writing to Santa
Writing letters to Santa Claus has been a Christmas tradition for children for many years. These letters normally contain a
wishlist of toys and assertions of good behavior. Some
social scientists have found that boys and girls write different types of letters. Girls generally write longer but more polite lists and express the nature of Christmas more in their letters than in letters written by boys. Girls also more often request gifts for other people.
[56]
Many
postal services allow children to send letters to Santa Claus. These letters may be answered by postal workers and/or outside volunteers.
[57] 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.
[58]
According to the
Universal Postal Union (UPU)'s 2007 study and survey of national postal operations, the
United States Postal Service (USPS) has the oldest Santa letter answering effort by a national postal system. The
USPS Santa letter answering effort started in 1912 out of the historic
James Farley Post Office[59] 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 make children's holiday dreams come true from coast to coast.
[57] 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.
[60]
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.
[61] France's Postal Service in 2007 specially recruited someone to answer the enormous volume of mail that was coming from Russia for Santa Claus.
[57]
Other interesting Santa letter processing information, according to the
UPU's 2007 study and survey of national postal operations, are:
[57]
- Countries whose national postal operators answer letters to Santa and other end-of-year holiday figures, and the number of letters received in 2006: Germany (500,000), Australia (117,000), Austria (6,000), Bulgaria (500), Canada (1,060,000), Spain (232,000), United States (no figure, as statistics are not kept centrally), Finland (750,000), France (1,220,000), Ireland (100,000), New Zealand (110,000), Portugal (255,000), Poland (3,000), Slovakia (85,000), Sweden (150,000), Switzerland (17,863), Ukraine (5,019), United Kingdom (750,000).
- In 2006, Finland's national postal operation received letters from 150 countries (representing 90% of the letters received), France's Postal Service from 126 countries, Germany from 80 countries, and Slovakia from 20 countries.
- In 2007, Canada Post replied to letters in 26 languages and Deutsche Post in 16 languages.
- Some national postal operators make it possible to send in e-mail messages which are answered by physical mail. All the same, Santa still receives far more letters than e-mail through the national postal operators, proving that children still write letters. National postal operators offering the ability to use an on-line web form (with or without a return e-mail address) to Santa and obtain a reply include Canada Post[62] (on-line web request form in English and French), France's Postal Service (on-line web request form in French),[63][64] and New Zealand Post[65] (on-line web request form in English).[66] In France, by 6 December 2010, a team of 60 postal elves had sent out reply cards in response to 80,000 e-mail on-line request forms and more than 500,000 physical letters.[58]
Canada Post has a special
postal code for letters to Santa Claus, and since 1982 over 13,000 Canadian postal workers have volunteered to write responses. His address is: Santa Claus,
North Pole, Canada, H0H 0H0
[67] (see also:
Ho ho ho). (This postal code, in which zeroes are used for the letter "O" is consistent with the alternating letter-number format of all Canadian postal codes.) Sometimes children's charities answer letters in poor communities, or from children's hospitals, and give them presents they would not otherwise receive. In 2009, 1,000 workers answered 1.1 million letters and 39,500 e-mail on-line request forms from children in 30 different languages, including Braille.
[58]
In Britain it was traditional for some to burn the Christmas letters on the fire so that they would be magically transported by the wind to the North Pole. However this has been found to be less efficient than the use of the normal postal service, and this tradition is dying out in modern times, especially with few homes having open fires.
[68] According to the Royal Mail website, Santa's address for letters from British children is: Santa/Father Christmas, Santa’s Grotto, Reindeerland, XM4 5HQ
[69]
In Mexico and other Latin American countries, besides using the mail, sometimes children wrap their letters to a small helium balloon, releasing them into the air so Santa magically receives them.
[68]
In 2010, the Brazilian National Post Service, "
Correios" formed partnerships with public schools and social institutions to encourage children to write letters and make use of postcodes and stamps. In 2009, the Brazilian National Post Service, "
Correios" answered almost two million children's letters, and spread some seasonal cheer by donating 414,000 Christmas gifts to some of Brazil's neediest citizens.
[58]
Through the years, the Finnish Santa Claus (
Joulupukki or "
Yule Goat") has received over eight million letters. He receives over 600,000 letters every year from over 198 different countries with Togo being the most recent country added to the list.
[58] Children from Great Britain, Poland and Japan are the busiest writers. The Finnish Santa Claus lives in
Korvatunturi, however the Santa Claus Main Post Office is situated in
Rovaniemi precisely at the
Arctic circle. His address is: Santa Claus’ Main Post Office,
Santa Claus Village, FIN-96930 Arctic Circle. The post office welcomes 300,000 visitors a year, with 70,000 visitors in December alone.
[58]
Children can also receive a letter from Santa through a variety of private agencies and organizations, and on occasion public and private cooperative ventures. 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,
[70] Santa Claus Village in
Rovaniemi, Finland, and the
People's Republic of China Postal System's Beijing International Post Office.
[71][72][73][74] Parents can order a personalized "Santa letter" to be sent to their child, often with a North Pole postmark. The "Santa Letter" market generally relies on the internet as a medium for ordering such letters rather than
retail stores.
[undue weight? – discuss]
Santa tracking, Santa websites and email to and from Santa
The Christmas issue of
NOAA's
Weather Bureau Topics with "Santa Claus" streaking across a weather
radar screen, 1958.
1955 Sears ad with the misprinted telephone number that led to the creation of the NORAD Tracks Santa program.
In 1955, a
Sears Roebuck store in
Colorado Springs, Colorado, gave children a number to call a "Santa
hotline". The number was mistyped and children called the
Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) on Christmas Eve instead. The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, received the first call for Santa and responded by telling children that there were signs on the radar that Santa was indeed heading south from the North Pole. A tradition began which continued under the name NORAD Tracks Santa when in 1958 Canada and the United States jointly created the
North American Air Defense Command(NORAD).
[85] This tracking can now be done via the Internet and NORAD's website.
In the past, many local television stations in the United States and Canada likewise "tracked Santa Claus" in their own
metropolitan areas through the stations'
meteorologists. 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.
[86] In the 21st century, most local television stations in the United States and Canada rely upon outside established "Santa tracking" efforts, such as NORAD Tracks Santa.
[87]
Many other websites are available year-round that are devoted to Santa Claus and purport to keep tabs on his activities in his workshop. Many of these websites also include email addresses which allow children to send email to Santa Claus. Most of these websites use volunteer living people as "
elves" to answer email sent to Santa. Some websites, such as Santa's page on Microsoft's
Windows Live Spaces, however have used or still use "
bots" to compose and send email replies, with occasional unfortunate results.
[88][89]
In addition to providing holiday-themed entertainment, "Santa tracking" websites raise interest in
space technology and
exploration,
[90] serve to educate children in geography.
[91] and encourage them to take an interest in science.
[92][93]
Criticism
Calvinist and Puritan opposition
Santa Claus has partial Christian roots in
Saint Nicholas, particularly in the
high churchdenominations that practice the
veneration of him, in addition to other
saints. In addition, he has also become a secular representation of Christmas. In light of these facts, the character has sometimes been the focus of controversy over the holiday and its meanings. Some Christians, particularly Calvinists and 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.
[94] Other
nonconformist Christians condemn the materialist focus of contemporary gift giving and see Santa Claus as the symbol of that culture.
[95]
Condemnation of Christmas was prevalent among the 17th-century English
Puritans and Dutch
Calvinists who banned the holiday as either
pagan or
Roman Catholic. The American colonies established by these groups reflected this view. Tolerance for Christmas increased after the
Restoration but the Puritan opposition to the holiday persisted in New England for almost two centuries.
[96] 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.
Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.
Following the
Restoration of the monarchy and with Puritans out of power in England,
[97] 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)
Nissenbaum, chap. 1.
Reverend Paul Nedergaard, a clergyman in
Copenhagen, Denmark, attracted controversy in 1958 when he declared Santa to be a "pagan goblin" (translated from Danish) after Santa's image was used on fundraising materials for a Danish welfare organization
Clar, 337. One prominent religious group that refuses to celebrate Santa Claus, or Christmas itself, for similar reasons is the
Jehovah's Witnesses.
[98] A number of denominations of Christians have varying concerns about Santa Claus, which range from acceptance to denouncement.
[99][100]
Opposition under state atheism
Symbol of commercialism
In his book
Nicholas: The Epic Journey from Saint to Santa Claus, writer Jeremy Seal describes how the commercialization of the Santa Claus figure began in the 19th century. "In the 1820s he began to acquire the recognizable trappings: reindeer,
sleigh, bells," said Seal in an interview.
[105] "They are simply the actual bearings in the world from which he emerged. At that time, sleighs were how you got about
Manhattan."
Writing in
Mothering, 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:
Our jolly old Saint Nicholas reflects our culture to a T, for he is fanciful, exuberant, bountiful, over-weight, and highly commercial. He also mirrors some of our highest ideals: childhood purity and innocence, selfless giving, unfaltering love, justice, and mercy. (What child has ever received a coal for Christmas?) 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. Here, Santa carries more in his baggage than toys alone!
[106]
In the Czech Republic, a group of advertising professionals started a website against Santa Claus, a relatively recent phenomenon in that country.
[107] "Czech Christmases are intimate and magical. All that Santa stuff seems to me like cheap show business," said David König of the Creative Copywriters Club, pointing out that it is primarily an American and British tradition. "I'm not against Santa himself. I'm against Santa in my country only." In the Czech tradition, presents are delivered by
Ježíšek, which translates as
Baby Jesus.
In the United Kingdom,
Father Christmas was historically depicted wearing a green cloak. As Father Christmas has been increasingly merged into the image of Santa Claus, that has been changed to the more commonly known red suit.
[108] One school in the seaside town of
Brighton banned the use of a red suit erroneously believing it was only indicative of the Coca-Cola advertising campaign. School spokesman Sarah James said: "The red-suited Santa was created as a marketing tool by Coca-Cola, it is a symbol of commercialism."
[109] However, Santa had been portrayed in a red suit in the 19th century by
Thomas Nast among others.
[110]
Controversy about deceiving children
Various psychologists and researchers have wrestled with the ways that parents collude to convince young children of the existence of Santa Claus, and have wondered whether children's abilities to critically weigh real-world evidence may be undermined by their belief in this or other imaginary figures. For example,
University of Texas psychology professor Jacqueline Woolley helped conduct a study that found, to the contrary, 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:
The adults they count on to provide reliable information about the world introduce them to Santa. Then his existence is affirmed by friends, books, TV and movies. It is also validated by hard evidence: the half-eaten cookies and empty milk glasses by the tree on Christmas morning. In other words, children do a great job of scientifically evaluating Santa. And adults do a great job of duping them.
[111]
Woolley posited that it is perhaps "kinship with the adult world" that causes children not to be angry that they were lied to for so long.
[111] However, the criticism about this deception is not that it is a simple lie, but a complicated series of very large lies.
[112] Objections include that it is unethical for parents to lie to children without good cause, and that it discourages healthy skepticism in children.
[112] With no greater good at the heart of the lie, some have charged that it is more about the parents than it is about the children. For instance, writer Austin Cline posed the question: "Is it not possible that kids would find at least as much pleasure in knowing that parents are responsible for Christmas, not a supernatural stranger?"
[112]
Others, however, see no harm in the belief in Santa Claus. Psychologist Tamar Murachver said that because it is a cultural, not parental, lie, it does not undermine parental trust.
[113] 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."
[113]
Dr. John Condry of
Cornell University interviewed more than 500 children for a study of the issue and found that not a single child was angry at his or her parents for telling them Santa Claus was real. According to Dr. Condry, "The most common response to finding out the truth was that they felt older and more mature. They now knew something that the younger kids did not".
[114] David Kyle Johnson, associate professor of philosophy at
King's College (Pennsylvania) disagrees, he wrote
[Consequences can include] everything from the erosion of parental authority and trust to turning a child into an atheist. For example, Jay defended Santa’s existence in front of his whole class on the mere basis that his “mother wouldn’t lie” to him, only to read the encyclopedia entry on Santa in front of the whole class and simultaneously discover that she indeed would. When little Tennille realized that the reason she didn’t always get what she asked Santa for was that he didn’t exist, she figured that God’s non-existence was the best explanation for why her prayers also went unanswered. (...) But there are even more reasons for not liking the Santa lie--reasons that should resonate quite loudly with everyone (especially atheists). (...) Encouraging your children to literally believe the Santa lie is the last thing that encourages critical thinking and effective reasoning in children. Think about what many parents do to keep kids believing. When a child brings doubts, parents often encourage the child to stifle those doubts and continue believing: “Just believe what you want to. After all, isn’t that more fun?” They will sometimes plant false evidence (or show terrible fake “scientific” documentaries that do so), make up faux ad hoc explanations, or—worst of all—just say “he’s magic.” But all these things are directly contrary to what parents who want to develop critical thinking in their children should do. Stifling doubt, believing based on desire (instead of evidence), being convinced by bad evidence, being fooled by ad-hoc explanations, and appealing to magic—these are all “bad habits of lazy thinking” that I have to drive out of my critical thinking students every semester. And, not surprisingly, the students in which these bad habits are most deeply entrenched are often those who believed in Santa for too long).
[115]
Gallery
A restored traditional Greenlandic
turf house on
Uummannaq Island serving the children of Denmark as the 'Santa Claus Castle', to which they can write letters.
Santa Claus House signage in North Pole, Alaska.
Santa Claus statue in Kerala, India.
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